Demon Tracks
by TheMidnightWhisp
Summary: Instead of helping Link restore the Spirit Tracks, Aife (a half lokomo) finds herself helping Byrne and Cole resurrect Malladus, though not by choice. Working alone with the mysterious jerk, Byrne, has its ups and downs. Rated T for swearing, violence, and for safe measures later on. Yes, there will be romance in here... Well more like a Rivalmance... AifeXByrne.
1. Chapter 1

**Demon Tracks**

**-Intro-**

**(A/N) All right, my first fanfic, so! This is about my character (Aife) and her part in Links adventure (Spirit Tracks.) She's part Locomo, and her great great great great etc. Uncle is Steem. (The Lokomo genes skip a few generations every now and then... *ahem*) The title for this will make more sense later... ;)**

**Disclaimer:**

**Aife belongs to me, everything else belongs to Nintendo, I own nothing of this except Aife, and the extra plot that was not in the original games story line.**

**Enjoy!**

**-TheMidnightWhisp**

**- Chapter ONE! -**

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Aife snickers as she sees kids jumping from the edge of the town and into the crisp blue of the ocean. She watched them giggle and squeal as they splashed around in the warm water. The blue waves lapped lazily over the hot golden sand on the beach. The palm trees gently swayed with the warm breeze that carressed over their bright and lively colored leaves. And the air had a faint smell of salt and citrus in it.

Aife shuddered slightly when she glanced at the water again. To most people the ocean here would look amazing, but Aife hated swimming, nor could she even stay afloat due to not knowing how to swim. She wasn't exactly a water lover, in fact, she found it almost repelling.

She looked away from the sparkling ocean and whipped her sword back and forth on her fake dummy from Alfonzo. She cut open its chest easily, revealing straw and cotton.

"Die evil stuffed dummy..." She mumbled at it as she swung her blade around to cut off its head in one swift motion. It fell off and rolled slightly down the lop-sided ground.

She was supposed to be training with Alfonzo, but he had been so busy training Link how to become an engineer. To which she thought was great, but considering how there weren't many tacks left the kid didn't exactly have that much of a career. 'Oh, well... Link, at least, is excited.' She was told that his graduation ceremony was today. 'He's probably all giddy about seeing the princess...' Aife rolled her eyes, remembering how excited he was after he found out about Zelda.

An annoying kid yelled at her, interrupting her thoughts.

"Alfonzo will be angry! That's the fifth time this week you've destroyed one of his dummies!" Yelled one of the kids from the edge of the beach.

She snorted. "Well, you know what? When dummies like this invade your village I'll be the only one prepared. And you'll all fall under their sandbag rule!" She yelled back, pointing her sword at the dummies chest.

The kid only stuck his tongue out. "You're just a stupid girl! You'll never become a real warrior!" The kid ran off to his snickering friends in the water.

'Oh, you are so gonna get it...'

She moved closer to the edge of the village, where the kid was just about to jump off the edge and into the water.

She quickly tried to control the energy around her, like Steem instructed.

Steem was her mentor, (And great great great (etc.) uncle) she came from the 'glorious' Snow Realm, north from here. Though the Forest Realm was nice, she missed the ice and the blue hue of the surroundings. And how early in the mornings everything looked like it had a silver coating, shining from the suns beams. But Aboda was one of the nicer parts in the Forest Realm, she thought, though she still preferred the snow and ice.

She was staying at Aboda village for three reasons.

1. She wanted (and had) to be trained in combat, so Alfonzo came up.

2. The tracks in the Snow Realm were disappearing, and this huge storm came... Steem didn't want her to be near it. She was, after all, still partially human.

3. ... And she kind of wanted to leave, staying in one place for so long was a bit lonely, and boring. Not to mention that she didn't get a ton of time to spend with other kids, even if they were half her age.

She had been to each of the different realms, visiting each of the Lokomo's for training on different subjects and the like, but... She wanted to know what it was like to have real excitement in her life. To have real friends, to live life as a true Lokomo warrior, and not have the burden of human blood to bring her down. But, having powers to move things with your mind is pretty awesome... And made it worth it, well, most of the time.

So that's how she ended up in this village, hanging around with Link, training with Alfonzo, and every now and then picking fights with children.

Which, at the moment, seemed to be at the top of her list.

As she tried to calm herself, the kid gets closer to the edge, almost ready to jump.

She tried to force the energy around him to move. She imagined great hands, scooping him up and stopping him from his jump. She felt warmth seep through her veins and into her palms where a soft silver light started to glow. And so, when the kid leaped into the air, hoping to land in the water, he disappeared in mid jump. And he landed on the sandy beach with an 'oof' instead. Aife laughed at the kid as he looked around wildly, trying to figure out what happened.

When he saw Aife snickering he frowned at her, and grabbed a handful of sand as he raced over to her. She laughed and turned to run. The kid chased after her, yelling about how she was so dead.

Eventually he caught up to her and threw the sand right into her face.

"Ugh!" She spat out the sand in her mouth. "Dammit kid!" The kid laughed, and Aife felt the sickening crunch of sand left in her teeth.

"That's what you get! Using magic like that on us kids will get you in trouble!" She snorted at that.

"I'm not gonna get in trou-" But she spoke to soon.

"I wouldn't say that just yet." A deep voice came from behind her.

Alfonzo walked up to her, looking pissed. His olive colored skin made the scar on his face appear much brighter. And his bright red bandanna he always wore covered his head from the boiling sun. Aife oftened wonder if he was bald... He had a large structure and well built muscles from years of work and engineering.

Aife turned around slowly and smiled innocently at him.

"Hello Alfonzo! (Crap...) So Link is going to graduate today huh? Well it sounds like you're very busy right now, so I'll just go and try to find a new hitting target and-" She pointed over to a random direction and started to leave.

"No. You're. Not. And don't try to change the subject, you know you're not allowed to use magic away from your mentor." Alfonzo told her as she started to pout,

Alfonzo didn't know why she had magic, just that she needed to be trained in the arts of combat, and she just so happened to know how to move things with her mind. But... He didn't need to know the real reason behind it...

"Well you see, I can explain, this kid here-" She started to point over to the brat that threw sand at her, but he already ran off. "... Never mind... Can I come with you and Link?" She asked, perking up.

"What? No! Absolutely not. You are to stay here with Niko. Link is not allowed to drive the train with anyone, but an instructor." Alfonzo told her sternly.

"Yeah, that's why you'll be there!" She chirped, his face reddened with anger. The large vain in his forehead (which Link and her made fun of often) bulged with anger.

"No. As punishment for using magic you are to stay here, and... And-... Ugh! Just stay out of trouble!" He finally spat out.

'Ah hell...' She started to feel a bit worried, unsure as to why.

"I really think I should help Link ... He's only a kid, and you expect him to be fine on his own? Especially at the castle?" She asked him.

Alfonzo crossed his large arms. "Link is a smart kid, he'll be fine. You on the other hand are likely to burn down the entire castle." She pouted, and he rolled his eyes. "Go wish Link luck, he's leaving in a few minutes." Alfonzo said and stomped off to his work shop.

She stuck her tongue out at his turned back and grumbled something about hin being way to serious. She sighed and turned to go wait at the train stop area for Link.

/

When Link appeared, he looked both excited and nervous.

"Hey, Aife." He grinned as he walked up to her.

Link was a head shorter than her, and far more blonde. Where his hair was practically yellow, hers leaned more towards a light gold shading of brown. But they both had wavy hair. Hers almost reached to her hips. His huge bright blue eyes stared up at her plain brown ones, though in the direct sun her eyes appeared to have rings of gold in them.

"Hey kiddo, you ready to meet the famous Zelda?" She teased, his face turned slightly red and he glanced away, smiling. "Don't worry, I'm sure she'll like you." 'I mean, come on, who wouldn't?'

"Thanks, I hope I pass... Then I can drive us around the entire realm!" He added excitedly.

"And without Alfonzo to yell at us every ten seconds." She grumbled and Link laughed and gave her a quick hug. She didn't really like being touched, but the gesture was sweet, none the less. She hugged him back, sensing how he nervous he was. But she got an uneasy feeling of not going with them.

She ruffled his hair. "You'll do great. Just... Stay safe, alright?"

He gave her a strange look but nodded anyways, they both turned to see Alfonzo driving the train out of his work shop.

Link whistled, and placed his hands on his hips to admire the train. Aife just giggled at it. It was a plain wooden train, nothing fancy to it. Just the main engine and a passenger cart. It was a rather small train, making Alfonzo look like a giant in comparison.

"Alright, are you ready Link?" She looked back to him.

The kid nodded eagerly, determination in his eyes as he boarded the train. "You coming Aife?" He asked sweetly.

She opened her mouth to answer but Alfonzo beat her to it, saying how she needed to continue her lessons here. Link frowned slightly, and Aife gave him a comforting smile.

"Don't worry, I'll be here when you get back. Then we can travel everywhere together." His face brightened and she couldn't help but giggle again.

Alfonzo rolled his eyes, and boarded as well.

"Stay out of trouble." He warned. Though he was only being half serious, this time.

'Right...' She huffed, and waved as they started moving.

"Good luck!" She yelled and Link gave a final wave, to which, she could hear Alfonzo already yelling at him to pay attention.

She laughed, and walked down the stairs.

Another uneasy feeling came over her. She really wanted to go with Link, something was... Off, in a way, but she tried to ignore it. Thinking that she was just nervous for him. She decided to practice hitting a wooden post, feeling somewhat sympathetic for the poor dummies she abuses so much. 'I don't need Alfonzo to come back and yell at me about that too...'

/

She slashed her sword at an old looking wooden pole in Alfonzo's shop. Deep cuts were engrave into the old brown wood from her constant abuse, and there were bits of wood shavings covering the floor around her from her swords slashes.

She felt most of her tension being released through her sword, but the uneasy feeling still wouldn't leave.

"Ugh! Maybe I should just follow them... But then Alfonzo will kill me!" She sighed and bowed her head, making her hair fall over her face. "Why didn't I try harder to go with them?" She smacked the poll with her fist. 'Ow.' She glared at the pole.

Footsteps echoed over the stone tiles in the room and she turned to see Niko.

The small elderly man was bent over his cane as he walked towards her. He had a red and white stripped shirt with regular blue pants. He had a bandanna on as well, similar to Alfonzo. Aife was told that Nikos and Alfonzo's grandparents use to be pirates and had sailed the seas together as well as with a few others, but she wasn't sure if they were joking or not.

But Niko was a great story teller, he told stories of old legends and adventures, and even put on cute slide shows for the younger children here. Aife even got the chance to watch one for free. She really enjoyed it, she had never really seen such a thing before, of course she had never really gotten the chance to.

"Hello, Niko." Aife chirped.

"You know, Aife, it's a lovely day for a run." Niko walked up beside her, with his toothy grin. "It would be such a waste to stay indoors..."

"Niko... This village is too small to run around in." She had already tried that many times before, and always ended up surprised and disappointed on how small the village really was.

"Well then why not run along beside the tracks? They make a great path..." Niko suggested. "Oh well, I'm too old anyways... Maybe I'll take a nap, and forget about taking a run. It's a silly idea anyways..." He nudged her with his elbow, telling her to take a hint.

Aife smiled at him. "Niko, you are a genius," He gave her a wink. "I owe ya."

"Nah... It's alright... What would you owe me for?" He frowned and then smiled at her while making shooing gestures. She grinned and ran out to the little hut she was staying at.

It was a cute little hut, its walls were a plain white with orange banners along the wooden planked floor. There was a single bed and a small table, stacked with piles of clothes and books and some other things that she wasn't quite sure how they got there.

She quickly grabbed a bag, and placed it around her shoulder, to which she threw in the rupees she'd collected over time. 'The things you find on the ground... Amazing...' She smiled as she raced out of her house and over to the train station, where she sta to walk down the tracks.

She looked back and saw Niko watching, and she waved to him. He returned it and walked back to his and Link's hut.

She took a deep breath and started to jog. 'Alright, let's see if I remember how to get there...' She was excited and relieved to finally get out of that small village. But the uneasy feeling only grew with every step she took towards the castle.

* * *

**A/N: Sooo, what did you guys think?**

**Honestly, the next chapters, I think, are much better... *shrugs***

**Comments, reviews, suggestions are all welcome. And I will respond to them all (if any) as soon as I can. ;)**

**Oh and if you notice any spelling/grammar/punctuation errors, please let me know. I won't take offense to it unless you're being mean about it... ;P**

**Anyways... Thanks for reading! ^_^ Oh and a huge thanks goes out to Wingscutdarkness! She's the one who helped inspire me to start writing fanfiction. ;) (Thanks hun'!) And if you haven't seen any of her writing, go look it up right now. It's seriously amazing. :3**

**~Whisp**


	2. Chapter 2

**WOOT! DIAMONDS!**  
***Runs around in circles***  
**X3**  
**Chapter II!**  
**222222222222222222222222222**

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The wind gently tugged at Aifes hair while she ran, her bag lightly bounced against her hip, and her sword tapped against her back. Running along side the tracks was exhilarating. The sky was a perfect blue, and the feeling of the crisp summer wind brushing past her relaxed her mind, even the grass smelled good here.

She tried to run for as long as she could, walking every now and then to catch her breath, then back to running. It didn't take as long as she originally thought to reach the castle, just about an hours trip. Her legs burned slightly from walking/running, but she didn't mind, it made it more of a challenge, which she enjoyed.

She could see Link's train and Alfonzo leaning against it. Aife decided it would be best to sneak around him, knowing that if he saw her he would most likely lock her up in the passenger cart until Link returned. She hoped over the short stone fence and she was somehow able to sneak around his gaze by hiding behind buildings, and people (who gave her very strange glances). She raced under the large pillars and into the castles courtyard, and started wallong normally when she entered the castles garden. There were large green hedges neatly trimmed to look like long boxes in front of the castle. Why people wanted box bushes, she would never know. Sure they looked nice, but why boxes? Aife narrowed her eyes as she counted up to five (visible) guards.

"Oh lovely..." She muttered.

She walked up to the two guards blocking the castle entrance. She noticed that they all had matching green tunics and spears. On of them was short and chubby, and the other was tall an skinny. 'Thats original...' She held back a snicker at that and she glanced at them innocently and they stared blankly at her.

"Ugh... Hi. I'm here for the ceremony thing today... My friend's graduating, perhaps you saw him?" She tried to make her voice as sweet as possible.

The stared at her for a second, then the larger one spoke. "Yeah, we saw him. But this is a private ceremony, no one else is allowed in."

'... Okay...'

"He's a close friend of mine, would it be so terrible if I just went inside to congratulate him? Or even just stood in the entrance?" Aife replied, knowing that it would hardly help her case. But it was really hot outside...

"No." The shorter one said firmly. "No one is allowed in. Now get lost kid, before we drag you away."

'Kid?' Her hand twitched and anger boiled in her.

"Listen, buddy," She took a step towards him. "I just walked all the way here from some village over an hours trip away. The least you could do is allow me to stand inside and see my friend when he returns from his ceremony."

The guards exchanged a glance, then turned back to her.

"Kid, I'm gonna give you five seconds before we force you out."

(*completely pissed off beyond all reason*)  
She normally didn't get so angry with authorities, but her legs hurt like hell, the sun burnt her skin, and she stepped on some (very) sharp rocks on her way. And now the guards wouldn't be the slightest of gentlemens to allow her inside the doorway of the bloody castle.

She glared at them, trying not to scream by biting the inside of her cheek.

The quieter one sighed and the larger guy grabbed her left arm, the action took her off guard (she 'really' didn't like it when people touched her, especially creepy old guards). So without thinking she punched his eye, just a quick jab with her balled up fist. The guard automatically let go and gripped his eye, giving a loud yelp. The other guard reached for his spear and she raced past them, rushing inside.

"Link!" She yelled out. "Link! Where are you?"

She continued hurriedly forward to see a guard rush up towards her. She turned and tried to go down the nearest hallway, but was blocked off by yet another guard.

The guard she had punched caught up to her, with a few others behind him as well.  
"You're in huge trouble now." He growled as knives shot from his eyes, or at least, the one that wasn't swollen and purple.

He grabbed her arm again.

"What's going on here?!" An annoying voice broke through. "Oh," The newcomer sighed. "Another little brat wandering around?" The new comers tone became very bored.

A very (very) short man walked in, wearing two green hats, with a matching green vest and pants. He had an orange beard matching his awful hair cut (barely visible from under his hats). And he had small beady black eyes that bothered Aife. Something seemed off about him, though she didn't know what. Maybe it was that his head was larger than his entire body.

'He looks like a leprechaun...' She almost snickered at the thought. But held it back, she didn't want to get into even more trouble.

"Chancellor Cole!" The guards straightened their stance upon seeing him. "This one attacked me when we told her to leave, then ran in here screaming."

The short guy, Cole, sighed.  
"Assaulting the princesses guard? A punishment shall be required indeed..."

'Wait, what?'

"I just wanted to find my friend, Link, then I'll leave."

Cole gave her a bored stare, stating that he didn't give a damn.

"No. You are to be punished, such acts against an authority can go from a simple fine to the death penalty. Take her downstairs, I shall deal with her later." Cole grumbled to the nearest guard.

'Death?! For hitting a snobby guard? What's wrong with these people?!' This is why she hated cities. And people... She really didn't like people...

Another guard grabbed her other arm, and panic flooded in her.

"No! You have no right to do this!" She yelled.

"Oh? And who are you to tell me what to do? Do you-"

Someone clearing their throat interrupted him.

"Chancellor, all of this is unnecessary." A female voice cut in. "Surely she can leave on my demand, correct?" A short blonde girl walked up, wearing a fancy pink dress and a large pink pearl necklace. All the guards bowed upon seeing her.

'...Wait a minute...'

"Zelda?" Aife spoke without thinking.

"How dare you!" Cole snapped, his eyes looked as though they were going to burst from his giant head. "Addressing Her Majesty without permission? An outrage!" The green dwarf snarled.

Zelda held her hand up to silence him.  
"Calm yourself, Cole. You two," She gestured to the guards holding her. "Release her."

They do so, and Aife caught a flash of rage in Cole eyes just before he turned back to Zelda.

"But, Your Majesty-" He started.

"I've made up my mind, Cole. She can leave, and everyone else can return to their posts."

Aife could hear Cole grinding his teeth as he left. 'Hm, well someone doesn't like the princess very much...' The guards also returned to their posts, or, wherever the hell they had come from.

"Whew, thank you, Your Highness." She bowed slightly 'Don't want to get on her bad side too...' "I am sorry to cause you trouble, I owe you one."

"It's no trouble, but I would not stay here much longer if I were you." Zelda told her, glancing around the room as though they were being watched.

Aife nodded in agreement. "Again thanks, and oh! Would you have happened to see a boy named Link per chance? He just graduated..."

"Link?" Something flashed across her eyes, and she looked uneasy. "I, uh, nope! Haven't seen him! I Uh, got to go now... I just forgot about something... Important! I must leave! Farewell." Zelda rushed away, looking flustered.

'Well... That was... Weird. Why would she lie about not seeing him?' Aife was told that Zelda herself was hosting the ceremony. She shook her head, deciding that it didn't matter.

Aife decided that waiting around in here for Link would be a very bad idea... So she left, while avoiding heavy glares from the passing guards.

'Guess I won't be visiting this place for awhile... Awe, and we were all getting along so well!' She rolled her eyes.

/

She waited outside the entrance to the inner castle. She never liked large city areas like this. She preferred the country, the open spaces. Even though where she came from they were completely covered in ice, it was better than grey bricks everywhere. Her and Steem use to go wonder the icy fields around them, skating with their boots, (he used his weird cart/wheel chair thing), beside the tracks. Sometimes they would walk as far as the Fire Realm, and stand outside the Snow Realms edges to feel the heat radiate from the lava pits below.

She was starting to miss him. He was quite funny, and would often trail off about his younger days and the like, telling her stories of her own ancestors and what they did. He was the nicest of the Lokomos in her opinion. Anjean was sweet too but... Sometimes Aife just found her a bit annoying, one can only handle oh so many lectures in a day... Though running around the Tower of Spirits just to bug the Phantoms made it worth it.

She let out a long sigh.

'Why can't I just live normally? As a full blooded Lokomo?'

She was first told that parents had died when she was very young, her mother from child birth, and her father from heart ache. She found out later this was not true, (Though, she already partially knew this). She always thought it was better that they were dead in her mind, instead of the cruelty of abandonment. It hurt her less to think that they died, instead of leaving her with Steem. Steem was great, but to know that her own parents didn't want her was... Bothersome. She could only recall faint memories of them leaving...

She shook her head. 'Don't dwell on the past, it happened so what? Nothing you can do about it.'

But still, it bugged her. Though being part Lokomo... That's what made it worth it. The things she was able to learn and do, plus having Steem there was... Well he was practically like a father to her. Her entire family really.

She was starting to feel homesick so she tried to stop thinking about useless old memories and Steem. She then started to think of excuses she could use if Alfonzo were to find her when a familiar girl in pink walked by. She stopped suddenly and looked back to the castle courtyard entrance expectantly.

Aife watched as Link ran up to Zelda, grinning like an idiot.

"Link!" Aife blurt out, causing the kid to jump, he looked over to see her. A flash of surprise washed over his expression then he smiled.

She walked up to him. "What's going on? You're not kidnapping the princess are you?" She said as she glanced over to Zelda.

Link opened his mouth to speak, his cheeks turning red, when Zelda interrupted him.

"No, he's assisting me. Come on," She glanced back at Link, looking anxious. "We need to go, there's no time for chatting."

"How'd you get here?" Link asked Aife. "Does Alfonzo know?" He glanced towards the train station.

"Um, I walked, and no. Where are you two going?"

Zelda said 'no where' the same time Link said 'the Tower of Spirits.' Zelda glared at him.

"I... Don't think that's a good idea..." Aife muttered as the uneasy feeling came seeping back into her stomach.

"Why? I need to go there, something's not right..." Zelda mumbled.

"Exactly, which is why you should stay away from it. Something bad is coming. It's been bugging me all day." Aife scratched her arm nervously.

"Well that's why I'm bringing Link!" Zelda puts in.

"Oh, so you can endanger him too? Great idea, princess." Aife shot back.

Zelda seemed surprised that she would suggest such a thing, she opened her mouth to speak again but Link cut in.

"Um, let's go talk to Alfonzo," He looked to Aife and his gaze softened, "Aife we'll be fine, you can come with us if you're so worried."

'Aw Link, you're such a sweetie..'

Zelda did not look pleased.

"Oh, alright, let's go Link." Zelda said.

Aife followed them, then realized something. "Ah, Goddess, I can't be seen here," Link asked why. "Alfonzo will kill me if he see's me here." 'And I haven't thought of any good excuses yet...' She thought to herself. "You guys go talk to him. I'll follow the tracks to the Spirit Tower and meet you there."

Link nodded and Zelda gave a quick 'kay in response.

She moved behind a building and watched the two kids approach the train.

Their hair was a similar shade of yellowish blonde, and they were fairly close in height. 'They'd make a cute couple...' Aife thought. She watched Alfonzo, clearly almost having a heart attack upon seeing Zelda, as he talked with the two kids for a bit. Then Alfonzo nodded, a little reluctantly, and they boarded the train.

Aife moved from behind the building and followed them down the track. They obviously moved a lot quicker than her so she began to run.

She continued running for a few minutes, and she was about to stop and walk a bit to catch her breath when...

The tacks beside her disappeared. Vanished. As though they had never been there.

She gasped, a sick dark feeling flooded through her. She could see a small dot (the train) come to a halt at the sudden disappearance of the tracks. It skidded along the grass and nearly tipped over, but somehow, Link managed to get a good hold on the brakes to stop them from tipping the train.

'No no no no no no...' She ran as quick as she could beside the tracks (or where the tracks use to be), hoping that she'd be able to catch up to them. The sick feeling continued growing inside her making her feel panicked and disoriented. The air grew cold and the sky became dark.

'Link! Why didn't you listen to me? Ugh! Shit shit shit...' Her legs were starting to hurt, and walking for an hour before didn't help either.

She could see a bit of what was happening ahead of her.

Link, Zelda, and Alfonzo exited the train.

Then a loud crash echoed around them. Sounding more like thunder then anything else.

She looked over to the tower, to see large electric blue energy strike it. It fell apart as dark purple clouds swirled above it.

Aife gasped 'Holy hell...'

The pieces of the tower stopped in mid-fall and started floating around like leaves in the wind above the base of the tower. And through the dark clouds emerged an enormous, ghastly looking train. 'Does it... It has a face?' Aife thought and squinted at the strange train.

The weird train with a face roared and passed over Link and the others, swooping down towards them and then back up.

'Shit!' She tried to run faster to them.

She was able to see two other figures approach. One very short, while the other much taller.

As she ran towards them, staring with wide eyes as Alfonzo started to fight the taller man. After a minute Aife watched in shock as Alfonzo was pushed away from the taller one. Making him slam into the train, and land on the ground in a heap. 'What the hell is going on here?' She could see Link was quickly pimp slapped away right after.

"No! Link!" She cried out, but she was still too far away.

A strange purple orb of electricity was shot towards Zelda from the, a now floating, short man.

"Damn it!" She could now see that both Link and Alfonzo are on the ground, unconscious, and an unnatural blue orb flee over Aifes head, back towards the castle.

She turned her head to watch it fly away, not sure what to make of it. 'Okay, now things are just getting a little too freaky...' When her gaze returned to where she was running the taller one grabbed Zelda, who dangled in his arm like a rag doll.

"No..." Aife continued running towards them. The two strangers walked away, as though it was the most normal part of their day. "What the frick?!"

When she finally reached the the train, she ran to where Link laid unconscious. She kneeled down beside him, and turned him over. His chest rose and fell back normally, to which, she breathed a sigh of relief. She was about to grab him and Alfonzo, and try to drag them back onto the train when something caught her eye. A few men in green approached from the castle. 'Fantabulous...' She thought angrily.

She looked at Link and Alfonzo and then cursed. They would probably think that she did this. Remembering the encounter she had with the castle guards, she left. Knowing full well that they would blame her for all this if she stayed. She ran into the woods, watching them race towards Link and Alfonzo. She didn't want to leave their sides but knew that the guards would help them a lot more than she could.

There were five of the castle guards, one of them picked up Link, and two went to grab Alfonzo. The other two look around the area, as if they could find some sort of clue as to what happened.

'...Zelda!' Aife remembered the strange men carrying her off.

She didn't think she could fight them off. Alfonzo only taught her a little, and if the tall one could beat him that easily, she didn't have a chance.

But she would surely be arrested or in deep trouble if she were to go back to Link and the guardsmen. Who now took both Link and Alfonzo back towards the castle.

'Aw, hell. I'll probably regret this...' She continued to where she last saw the strangers walk off too. She sighed again and she jogged after them.

* * *

**LEMONS!?**  
**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

**A/N: Ooh, end of ch.2! Sort-of-ish cliff hanger... Sort of.. XD Oh dear, what ever will happen when she meets Byrne? *grins evilly***

**~Whisp**


	3. Chapter 3

Aife quickly jogged past the trees towards the strangers direction, feeling her light sword pat against her back. 'Yeah... I'm screwed.' But she couldn't return to castle town if Link was not awake. The guards would surely throw her out, again. 'I'll find out what the hell is happening, what they're doing with Zelda, get her back, then I'll leave...'

"Right." She snorted. "Because that will be a piece of cake, right?" 'Uhhhh... Why didn't I try harder to convince them to stay? Then they would never have gotten into this mess...'

The sick feeling in her stomach grew, and she felt her body shake slightly from the anxiety of facing the strange men.

She continued running until she heard the soft murmur of voices. She slowed down and carefully followed them.

"... Oh! If I had known it would have been so easy, why, I would have done it ages ago to that brat!" ('Cole?') "Now we need to find those tears and then it shall almost be complete..."

Aife could see that creepy Chancellor was floating around the tall ones head, sharp teeth showing over his wicked grin. He also had two horns, one being slightly larger than the other.

'Oh... That's why he wore two hats... He's an evil leprechaun... ... I F'ing knew it!'

Zelda hung limp in the tall guys arm. Aife slowly followed them, trying to be as quiet as possible as she stepped over twigs and dried up leaves.

"Ugh, children are so annoying. But I suppose I'll have them disposed of soon enough..." Cole mused.

'What is this guys problem with kids?'

She could see that the taller man had a large looking claw on his hand. 'Creepy...'

"Wait..." The tall one stopped walking, as does Cole, (well, he stopped floating forward).

She froze in her spot, slightly behind a tree, holding her breath. 'Shit...'

"What is it now, Byrne?" Cole sighed, clearly annoyed.

"There is... Someone following." He said, his voice husky and low. She couldn't help but smirk at that. 'Damn boy... He's got a sexy voice too?... Wait a minute...'

'Shit!' She whipped herself behind the tree. Closing her eyes tightly. 'If I can't see them, they can't see me, right? Come on, just keep walking away...' She willed

She did not hear him, the one called Byrne, approach.

Her eyes flew open when a metal claw gripped her arm. Tightly.

Angry golden eyes glared at her. The tall man had long dark hair that was pulled back into a long ponytail with two loose strands in the front, and a large green scarf covered most of his face. He looked as though he was only a few years older than her. He had (what looked like) red eye liner on his lower eye lids, making the gold irises pop out even more. She also noticed how huge his arms were, coiled with tight muscles... 'He has... Really big arms...' Her mind wondered but she perished the thought, seeing how silly it was to think of that now. On a regular day she probably would have been snickering at how huge his arms looked, and at that thought she tried very hard not to giggle.

'What's wrong with you? Stop staring at his arms, and pay attention!' Her mind screamed at her. But his eyes caught her attention the most, they were... Alluring, in a way. But she shook those thoughts away. 'Not now Aife!' She commanded herself.

She struggled around his cold iron grip and in a flash, swung her fist at his jaw. He easily moved his other hand over to catch hers, and she could no longer move it. "Ugh!" She growled and treks to yank her hand away.

Cole floated up behind the one called Byrne.

"Well, well, if it isn't the other little brat I saw earlier." Cole sneered.

"Fancy seeing you here." She shot back, trying to loosen the grips around her forearm and fist.

"Now now, no need to be rude..." Cole said.

Byrne released her. She quickly whipped her arms away from him. Glaring with enough hate to kill.

"So, why is it that you've come so far? Surely you have not come for this other little brat. No... That would not be wise." Cole muttered. His voice annoying as ever.

She snorted. "Holy hell, you really are insane. Kidnapping children is, I assume, normal for you? Or is this something you do on very special occasions?" She had no idea how she was able to say that without her voice wavering.

She could see she hit a nerve. Coles face turned red in fury, and he clenched his teeth together. "Such a sharp tongue you have... Byrne, cut it out."

She saw Byrnes body shift slightly, as if he were going to attack, but it was enough time for her to pull her sword out with a sharp slicing noise.

He didn't even flinch at that. 'Oh come on!'

"Try it. Just see what happens." She glared at him.

Byrne only glared back. She held onto his gaze, refusing to look away first.

Cole laughed at them.

"Such spirit you have! And at such a young age..." Cole said as he bobbled in the air.

"Shut up. Give me Zelda and leave. Or else-"

"Or else what? You are a simple child with a toy you do not know how to use, and yet you dare challenge us? Do you even know who we are?" Cole clearly had a bad temper, and her comments weren't helping either.

Aife glanced at her sword for a spilt second. 'Dammit sword! You're suppose to look scary!' She glared up at Cole again.

"I don't really care. You're obviously an insane leprechaun demon thing, and you," She gestured to Byrne, "are an abusive jerk who likes to beat up kids who, for one, cannot even defend themselves. So I suggest you leave Zelda with me, and get your creepy asses out of here." She thanked the goddess that her words did not slip. She sounded fearless, but her quivering hands suggested otherwise.

Cole looked as though he wanted to explode. Byrne had a strange expression on, somewhere between 'this girl is crazy' and pity.

"How dare- Byrne! Get rid of this brat! We've wasted enough time with children." Cole snapped.

Byrnes gaze didn't even waver from her. Cole floated away from them, to where she assumed they had left Zelda.

Byrne raised his gauntlet, and swung it at her. She blocked it with her sword, but was pushed to the side from the force.

He frowned at that.

He swung again, a lot faster this time. She blocked it again but a little too slow. The force of the hit caused an 'oof' to escape from her.

"Bugger." She spat at him. "Do you always follow your precious master? Or do you have a mind of your own?"

He glared at her, while trying to get through her blocks.

"I choose my own path. And that is with Cole." He told her.

She snorted and then grunted from the blow of the next hit.

"Right. Sure thing hun', let me know how that works out for you." She shot back.

He snarled and hit her side too quick and too hard for her to react in time.

She flee over to the side like a rag doll from the force. When she hit the ground the earth felt cool against her cheek. And for a second she almost stayed there. Her muscles refusing to move. There was a sharp jabbing pain in her side now. But she forced herself up. Not ready to give up that easily. She gripped her side and winced.

She was able to straighten her arms out but they fell out again from a quick kick to her tender side, pushing her further away.

She groaned and spat out a bit of blood, but continued to force herself up.

"Why do you continue trying to get up when you will clearly fall again?" Byrne asked, walking closer with a slow cat like grace.

She snorted again, as she forced herself up on her arms and knees. "Because, I was taught to never bow down to those who are weak minded. And I don't fall easily to those who piss me off either."

She stood up, trying to keep her chin held high by using what little energy she possessed. She whipped away the blood that dribbled down from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand and glared at him.

"You... are not human..." He breathed, staring intently at her.

"Half human." She corrected him.

She didn't understand why it would matter, or how he was able to tell. But she ignored it. She glared up into his golden eyes, he was a lot taller than her. Over a foot for sure, which meant he would appear to be over twice the size of Link.

"Link..." She breathed out loud. Remembering why she was here. He gave her a confused look.

She swung her sword at him in a flash and he almost failed to block.

She ended up knocking him back slightly, while leaving a scratch on his cheek. 'Yes!' She mentally fist pumped the air.

"What is taking so long? Byrne! Have you yet to deal with this human?" Cole flew over again, annoyed as always.

"Cole this one is not-" Byrne started.

"I'm disappointed, Byrne, unable to deal with a single human, and a child at that! Tsk tsk." Cole let out an exaggerated sigh, then a dark purplish glow appeared around his hands.

Dark purple orbs of sharp looking electricity are shot towards Aife.

'SHIT!' Her mind screamed as she watched in horror.

She let out a scream, before everything turned black, with a sharp jabbing pain ripping through her chest.

* * *

**! THE END !**

**Mwahahahaha...!**

***See's angry mob of readers.* I jest! I jest! Don't hurt me!**

**What do you think about cliffhangers?**  
**I love them... ;)**

**Oh! I forgot to mention this...**

**Everything from the original game 'The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks', belongs to Nintendo. Everything else that is not apart of the original plot or game is mine, which, includes extra characters. So yeah, everything here belong to the respected owners.**

**Review if you so desire. I appreciate every single one. ^^**

**~Whisp**


	4. Chapter 4

**Retpahc 4 -**

**...**

* * *

"Hey!" Someone yelled at her.

'Ugh... What?' Aife opened her eyes and looked up to see Link.

"Wake up. Now." He commanded in a husky voice.

"Link, why is your voice so deep?" 'Puberty already?'

"You're hallucinating, get up before I make you." His tone changed into a warning.

She blinked a few times, and a sharp pain ran through her head as she sat up. She rubbed her eyes and groaned, jabbing pains from her chest and sides stab into her. She opened her eyes to see Byrne.

She automatically scooted away, hitting her head, ('ow'), on a seat. She looked around to see she was in some sort of metal room, with benches on either side. She shivered from the coldness in the air.

"Shit..." She realized she was on a train. "Why am I here?" She looked back to Byrne, who stood up and sat on the bench across from her. 'And shouldn't I be dead, or something?' Not that she wasn't happy to be alive...

"You are Lokomo, no?" He asked, ignoring her question.

She squinted her eyes at him. "Why does that matter?" She asked him cautiously.

His expression remained blank. "It may save your life... Or end it."

'... Fantabulous...' She glared at him. "Where's Zelda?"

"Here."

"Why?"

"That is none of your concern."

"It is actually, I owe a debt to her." 'Well, sort of... But he doesn't need to know that.''

He raised an eyebrow at that, but shook his head anyways as he stood. "You are only half Lokomo... Useless. You do not nearly have enough power to be of any help."

'Jerk... Or is that a good thing?'

"Where are you going?" She sees him starting to leave the room, and she doesn't want to be left alone, even if it meant she'd have to be in the company of this jerk, she'd take it.

He glanced back at her, something strange flashed over his eyes but was gone in a second as he turned and left, closing a heavy looking metal door. She heard a click of a lock as it closed.

'... Hell...'

_-_  
_(09.18.12. -)_

She tried to open the door but already knew that it would be a hopeless attempt. She even kicked and punched it a few times. She let her head fall on it and repeatedly banged her fist against the cool grey metal, cursing just about everything.

"Goddess... What have I done now?" She hoped Link would be okay, and Alfonzo, considering how one guy knocked them both out cold.

She turned her head so that it was still against the door and looked around the room/cart. It had metal walls and no windows. A few rows of seating and empty shelves above her ran along the sides. Its colors were relatively dark and cold, not at all like the cozy warm browns and oranges of Links train. Clearly there was nothing she could use to get out, it was then that she realized that her sword and pack were taken. 'Great...'

She leaned against the door, seeing how it was the only way to and from this area, for quite some time. Every now and then she would bang the back of her head against it thinking of how foolish it was to follow them.

'I needed to help Zelda, it's better if I'm captured and near her, then free and have no clue were she is... Or is she even here?'

She then started to think of why she even bothered helping Zelda. An obvious reason could be that she was the princess, the future ruler of Hyrule, that as a citizen of Hyrule it would have been Aife's duty to aid the princess when so required. But then part of her said it was to pay off the sort of 'debt' she owed Zelda from helping her earlier. 'She helped me from being destroyed by Cole, and now she's the reason I'll probably be killed by him... Lovely..' But either way, whether that was true or not, Aife would have felt responsible for not, at the very least, trying to help. If she had stayed with Link and the guards, she would have felt terrible for letting these two creeps take her. 'No... Not doing anything would have been cowardly... Zelda may be the almighty princess, but she's still a kid. The same age as Link...' That last thought bugged her.

If Link had been carried off, she would have charged at them head on and... Well, probably would have preformed great acts of violence until he was safe again.

She had only known him for a little more than a month, and she already felt protective of him. As though he were her little brother. He was the first person who introduced himself to her and the only kid close to her age that talked to her (he was around twelve and she was about five years older). The adults there made small talk with her, and the younger kids ignored her, but Link kept her company though she was older than him. He talked with her and listened, which he did a lot around her, and they had been good friends from the beginning. She always found it cute when he would run up to her, completely out of breath from searching for her, and start asking her random questions, then follow her around for the rest of the day. She couldn't help but smile to herself through her messy hair that fell over her fa

She sighed. 'He'll be alright...' She reminded herself. 'The guards will make sure he recovers properly.' And to that, she felt her mind become a little bit more at ease.

She felt the door shift slightly, and before she could move away it flew open, causing her to fall back on someone. Large arms caught her from behind and steadied her. She looked up and around to see golden eyes glaring back. Her cheeks grew slightly warm but, thankfully, it was barely noticeable. Or, at least, she hoped it wasn't noticeable.

"Ugh hi?" She said, trying to smile sweetly to cover up her flushed cheeks. Byrne let go and she moved away and looked back at him. She tried to read his expression, to try and figure out what was going on, but his eyes revealed nothing.

"You are to come with me." He spoke in a monotone voice.

She huffed, and grumbled something about refusing, while crossing her arms. He stared blankly at her when she didn't move, so she stared blankly back. 'Two can play the blank-face game.'

He sighed and grabbed her arm, pulling her with him. She tripped slightly at the force but was able to catch herself before she fell onto his back. She really didn't like it when people touched her... But his hand was warm, not sweaty like the guards... 'No! He's the enemy here!.. Who has, really warm hands...' Yep. She was most definitely screwed. 'Ugh.. Aife! Don't start with that kind of crap now! Come on!... Ugh! Of all the times some guy could have walked into my life... Dammit!' Her mind continued to curse herself for thinking that.

Her mind rambled on, though she said nothing while walking. Her mind started racing on what to do. She bit her lip, thinking on how she could get away. But she could hardly focus on anything.

His grip on her arm was tight as he dragged her down the narrow hallway.

She used her other hand to scratch at the tightening grip. "Is this really necessary?" She questioned as she, very childishly, tried to pry his fingers off of her arm. He turned to look back at her and she gestured to the firm grip on her arm as if to say: Dude. Really?

He said nothing and looked away, completely ignoring her.

She huffed again, 'Damn you! Why are you so hard to read?'

Byrne opened another door, and pulled her through. She tripped slightly on the door frame and cursed. He gave a quick glance back at her, and when she looked up, (after recovering from her trip) he looked away.

She raised an eyebrow at him, trying to keep up with his quick pace. 'What's this guys problem?' She frowned at the back of his head, wondering why he was being so strange. She couldn't figure it out, so she stuck her tongue out at the back of his head and huffed again.

Byrne slowed and opened another door, one to which she could see the controls used for the train she was in.

'Could this be the one that flew from those dark clouds?... Oh shit.'

She watched Cole bobble in the air while staring intently at a large map. He turned to see Byrne enter with Aife dragging along behind.

She looked at the map to see familiar symbols on it. The symbol for dark energy crystals caught her eye, the were encircled with black ink near the four realms on the map.

Steem had taught her about many different types of magic, but these symbols belonged to a very old and dark magic. One that was safely kept locked up near each Lokomo guardian. They apparently could only be reached by those of Lokomo blood. And it was said that they were kept away from the Demon King himself. She was told that they were powerful tools that could be used to help resurrect him. She racked her brain to try remember the name of them...

"The four tears of darkness!" She blurted out loud without thinking. 'Shit!'

Cole and Byrne whipped their heads around to stare at her, Byrne looking surprised, while Cole got a sly look over his face.

'Shit shit shit shit shit...' She realized her mistake, *Never tell the bad guys what you know, not even a little bit. Even if it seems harmless*

"You know of these?" Cole asked, a dark look gleaming in his eye.

"Uh, nope, it was just a guess really, I have no idea what they are." She rambled out. It was obvious that they didn't believe her.

Cole grinned wickedly. "Hmm, we may have some use for you yet... I suppose it would be a waste to kill you when you may hold valuable information." He waved his hand in a way that suggested that she meant nothing to them either way.

She glared at him. "I don't know what your talking about. Where's Zelda?" She demanded.

Cole waved her off. "That is not of importance to you. She is safe, for now. What should be your concern is how much you value your life."

'...Does he plan on killing me? Surprise surprise...'

She said nothing, keeping her expression blank.

He let out a long exaggerated sigh, exposing his sharp knife like teeth. "I'll make you a deal girl, you help us find these tears of darkness, you keep your life. If you do not, Byrne will force answers out of you, and I doubt you'll want your life much longer after wards." He smiled wickedly and her eyes flickered to Byrne for a second, who gave away nothing of what he felt about that, before returning back to Cole.

'What?!'

"Can't you find them on your own? You have a map. Use it." She shot back.

"So you do know where they are kept." Byrne observed.

She looked at him, 'Dude. Shut. Up.' her eyes screamed at him. 'Wait... How the hell was he able to figure out- what?... Why would he-? Ugh! Mother blood!' Her mind rambled. "No! I do not. They're hidden away safely in a temple in each realm, no one has seen them for centuries..."  
'... Dammit Aife!'

Cole snickered as he watching them. "Oh, this shall be interesting indeed! So what do you choose girl? Since you are Lokomo you must know how to retrieve them... Shall you help us willingly, or will Byrne have to... Persuade you."

She wanted to scream, run away, and bash Coles head in. Maybe all at once.

She looked back and forth between them, trying to figure out what to do or say. Their heavy gazes seemed to weigh her down and panic filled her.

"I-... I need some space, to think..." Her head started to spin.

Cole sighed again. "Fine." He spat. "Byrne, take her back. If you cannot decide what to choose, then I'll choose for you. And I guarantee you won't like it." He said with a warning in his tone.

She felt the blood from her face drain slightly. Byrne pulled her back down the hallways and the other rooms/carts to where she had first woke up.

He pushed her into the last room. "You've got five minutes." He warned her, slamming the door closed.

She didn't hear it lock so she figured he must be standing in front of it. Why he did such didn't make sense to her, it's not she'd get very far if she tried to get away 'Where are the doors leading outside?' She hadn't seen any while being dragged down the hall back and forth.

She plopped down onto one of the benches feeling... Flustered, which seemed like an understatement. She tried to organize her thoughts, carefully reviewing what to do.

'Alright, Link and Alfonzo are safe. Zelda is, from what I could see, not here. They won't harm her at the moment because, for whatever reason, they need her. If I don't help them they'll kill me, or something worse than that. If I do help them, I risk Zelda's safety, but possibly help myself from being killed at the moment.' Her mind continued to ramble through the possible out comes of different actions. 'I have no idea how to get out of this train, where we are, or where to go after wards. If I help them I may be able to escape and get help to rescue Zelda... Ugh! I can't just abandon her either! And who would even help me?'

She slammed her fists against the chair. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to think slowly.

After another minute she made her decision, thinking that it was the only way to be able to have the chance of beating these guys. She waited there for a few minutes before Byrne came in. He walked over to her and was about to speak.

"I've already made up my mind." She told him, though he didn't look very surprised.

"And?"

She sighed. "I'll help. But you have to promise that no harm will come to Zelda if I do so." She looked him straight in the eye, trying to read his cold gaze.

He stared back for a moment then nodded and left, closing the door behind him. She sighed again. When the door closed it didn't click, it was still unlocked. She could hear his foot steps become more and more faint down the hall. She knew that leaving the room and trying to find a way to escape would be foolish, so she moved towards the door and opened it by just a crack.

She strained to hear the voices down the hall.

"This will make it much easier to-... Just a few steps away from-..." She could only pick up a few words from Cole.

She closed the door and sat down on the nearest bench letting her head fall onto her hands. She sighed, 'What have I gotten myself into?'

* * *

**La End. :P**

**Alright... Now things are finally starting to, I don't know, move on to the main plot? Sure, we could call it that.**

**Comments/reviews/advice welcome! Pardon any mistakes, please let me know if you find any. *squints at screen* Sneaky buggers...**

**Q: Who's your favorite character from the Legend of Zelda games? Pairing?**

**Me: Mine would have to be... Well, probably all of the evil side villains, Byrne especially and Dark Link, Ghirahim... And I absolutely love Navi. Pairing? I suppose anything involving those guys, excluding Navi.**

**Farewell!**  
**~Whisp**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter five... ✂**

**(This one is slightly longer...)**

* * *

Aife had been half falling asleep when Byrne came in again.

"Where is the first tear located?" He asked rather rudely.

She snapped out of her hazy trance and she could only stare at him, her brain trying to remember what she had learned from each of the Lokomo's. Each one supposedly guarded the Realm they lived in, therefor guarding one of the four tears.

'Uhh, the first one? Maybe Gage... Are we even still in the Forest Realm? Hmm, maybe I shouldn't tell them, or I could lead them off course! Yeah...'

When she didn't say anything he sighed and started to leave.

"Fine." Was all he said, apparently deciding that she wasn't going to help after all. "Cole will not be very impressed." He added. She felt her eye twitch.

"Hey!" He turned back to her. "The Lower levels of the Forest Temple. That's where the first one will be." She replied 'So much for leading them off course...'

He looked surprised and then frowned slightly, as though he was trying to decide if she was lying or not. Deciding she was telling the truth he nodded and left.

He confused her. There was something about him that almost felt familiar, but she would have remembered seeing him before... He seemed very guarded and she wanted to know what he was hiding so carefully. 'Does he always wear that scarf?' She couldn't help but wonder why he always kept it on...

She let her head fall back onto the seat.

'Come on girl. Don't think about him, you just need to get through this, try and work with them... And then...' That's where her mind grew blank. 'Then what? Get Zelda to safety... But how?'

She felt a sudden jerk of movement from the train, causing her to grip the sides of the seat refelxivly to hold on.

Byrne re-entered the room. He walked past her and sat two seats from her in the other row.

She watched him for a moment, frowning as he closed his eyes, completely ignoring her presence.

"So, we're going to the Forest Temple then?" She asked, trying to get his attention, and avoid awkward silences. "But you do realize that finding these tears is a ridiculous plan, right?"

His eyes flew open and looked at her. He brought a single finger to her mouth and his eyes flickered towards the door. Telling her that Cole was listening. She frowned and look at the side of the wall where a window should have been.

'Why would that matter to him?' She sighed. 'Maybe he just wants me to stop talking...' She suddenly felt very tired, too much happening too fast.

She pulled her legs up to her chest and let her head rest against her knees as her eyes started to become heavy.

* * *

_Flashes of dark purple clouds, a strange bull like creature, and the feeling of falling hit her. She heard a faint female voice calling her, then yelling. But when she tried to make out the words, they became more blurred and twisted so that they sounded more like gibberish then anything else._

_She felt like something was ripping her apart, as if her very soul was being clawed at mercilessly. She felt very cold and exposed as everything went black._

_She screamed, or at least, she thought she did but something kept pulling her, dragging her away, when she knew that she had to stay and_ help-...

* * *

Aife's eyes flew open, and she gasped. She rubbed her eyes hard. She tried to calm her heart and breathing as she rested her face in her hands. She let out a shaky breath, trying to figure out what to make of the strange dream. But every time she tried to bring it back it slipped away. As though some sort of block was there, stopping her from remembering. She could faintly remember a voice... But what it was saying was lost to her now.

'Ugh...' When she removed her hands from her eyes she saw Byrne watching her. There was something strange about the way he was looking at her but it was gone in a second. She felt heat slowly seep up to her cheeks and she looked away, hiding her expression with her hair.

'Was he watching me the entire time?' She questioned and hid her red cheeks with her messy hair. 'Uhhh... Why?'

"Good, you're awake. We'll be arriving shortly." He told her.

She sighed. "How long was I asleep for?"

He paused before answering. "Not very long. Why?"

She only shook her head. 'So he was watching me...' She shuddered and pushed that thought away. She normally didn't have strange dreams like that, especially over so short of time.

'Probably from stress...'

She felt the train come to a rather sudden halt. The rapid movement caused her to grip the sides of the seat again, to stop herself from falling off it. But she was still flung forward. When the train finally came to a rested stop Byrne stood.

"Let's go." He says, not glancing at her as he walked past her. She bit her lip, not wanting to go. "Do I have to drag you out?" She turned her head to see Byrne waiting at the door frame expectantly. She huffed and got up slowly, her head felt slightly dizzy but she refused to let it show.

She walked towards him, her chin held high and she stopped in front of him when he didn't move. He gave her a strange look, and she held his gaze until he moved away. He moved down the hallway and she followed but he stopped in the one room just before the control area.

He brought his clawed hand up to the metal wall as black/blue electricity was shot out from it and a door frame shape appeared. He pushed it forward, allowing the natural light from the sun to enter. She squinted at it as Byrne jumped out from the train very casually.

It seemed like a rather large jump, even if she were to sit on the edge and then plop down.

He looked up at her expectantly. Since he was a lot taller than her he made it appear easy. He frowned at her. She gave him a look trying to say 'You really expect me to jump? From way up here?'

His expression didn't change.

She sighed, seeing as he wasn't going to help her, and jumped. When she hit the ground pricks ran along her legs and she winced at the pain in her feet. He watched her silently as she stood up straight, brushing off any dirt that may have gathered on her leggings. She looked at him.

"What?" He questioned as she continued to stare at him.

'Dude, you were the one watching me.' She wanted to snap, but decided that she would rather tease him.

"Huh." She smiled slightly. "Interesting." She noted the way he was watching her, and the tone he used was defensive. 'Why are you so guarded?' She asked him mentally.

He gave her a questioning look. "What?" He repeated, now sounding some what annoyed and confused.

"Oh, nothing..." She smiled at him knowingly as she walked past him. "Where to now?"

"The Temple is just over there, you know where to go afterwards right?" She turned back to him.

"... I think so... But there are traps and monsters there to help guard it, so I kind of need a map and my sword." Her gaze traveled back to the door entering the large train.

He sighed and walked closer to the train, he grabbed onto a handle from the side and pushed himself up from it. With his (very) muscular arms flexing as he does so. She let out a giggle, seeing he was not there to hear her. 'Oh! Grow up Aife!' But she couldn't help it. 'Damn his huge arms!'

She looked around to see lush green trees surrounding them, the suns rays shone through the leaves, making strange patterns of shadows on the ground, and she noticed that there were no tracks beneath the train.

'A flying train? Really?'

She began to wonder where Cole had gone, or if he was still in the train. She could have easily ran away then, but the time it crossed her mind Byrne had already retrieved her sword. He jumped out of the door, making it look like the easiest thing in the world, and handed her her sword and an old looking map.

"Don't even think about trying anything." He told her as he handed her her sword cautiously.

"Thanks..." She mumbled as she took her sword and placed it through the built in hilt on the back of her tunic. He seemed a bit surprised at her for thanking him but he gave a simply nod in return, while looking away. They started walking towards the Forest Temple, saying nothing for a bit.

"So... Cole isn't coming, I guess?" She started.

"No, Cole does not take on... tasks such as this."

"And our task is?"

"Retrieving the Tear of Darkness." He told her.

"Yes, but why? Doesn't it connect with the Demon King, or something?"

Byrne paused a moment, thinking. "It does." He finally replied.

She though about what he said. Then she understood, or at least she thought she did. "Your trying to revive him." She stated in an emotionless voice, trying not to reveal anything of what she felt of that. 'Shit... That sucks.'

He said nothing.

"Then why would you need Zelda? What role does she play in all this? And don't try and convince me she's not, I know she's important to whatever plan you're planning." She looked over to try and read his expression, but again, it was as guarded as always.

He did not respond.

"Fine. Don't tell me. I'll figure it out on my own." She tells him.

"Will you?" He almost sounded as though he was enjoying all of this, he gave her a sideways glance.

She looked him in the eye. "Yes, I will." She told him, determination in her eye, she looked away first.

"Hm." Was his only response.

She could see the temple ahead of them. It appeared as a large tree on top of a sort of golden platform, with a door that had a set of tracks entering it. The old tree had a deep brown bark that looked twisted an gnarled, deep wrinkles in-graved into it. The leaves on top of it were a shade of emerald, waving about in the gentle wind, with the suns golden rays shining proudly on them.

Aife and Byrne entered the temple, and inside of it was a small train sitting alone at the station area. The train looked familiar, and she tried to remember where she had seen it before. The colors of it range from golds, greens, and browns, looking very similar to...

"The Spirit Train!" She blurted when the answer came into mind. 'I've got to stop doing that... But why is it here?' She remembered the tower collapsing, and Anjean came to mind. 'No... Anjean doesn't leave the tower...'

They walked past it and Aife wondered who could have possible brought the train here. 'Hadn't most of the tracks disappeared anyways?' She also thought of Link but trying to figure out how he would have gotten the Spirit Train didn't add up. She looked back at the lonesome train and frowned.

"Do you-" She started to ask if Byrne knew who they were when he interrupted her.

"No, and we should not seek them out either." There was a slight warning in his tone, saying that they should start looking for the tear and stop chatting.

"Fine." She huffed. 'This guy is no fun...'

They entered the door leading farther into the temple.

She had been in this temple before, Gage had given her a tour and showed her how to sneak by most of the traps and monsters guarding it. But that was years ago, her memory on where the keys were and the like was rather hazy.

The walked down the narrow hallway until they reached a door, to which she remembered being locked. She moved past the open door and Byrne followed behind as they turned down another narrow hallway.

The next door was one she didn't remember being there. It looked heavy and it didn't appear to require a key.

She put her hands against it, and heard something distant from behind it. She pressed her ear to it, trying to hear what was behind the door.

Byrne gave her a strange look, and she responded by sticking out her tongue at him. He narrowed his eyes at the gesture.

She heard someone yell, then some sort of creature screeching. The door began to quiver and it moved downward, opening up the new area.

She watched the door move and on the other side she was able to see Link, and some sort of blue spirit thing beside him.

Link was dressed in the green guards uniform, he glanced over in Aife's direction and upon seeing her his eyes grew wide in surprise.

"Aife?" He asked, in a way saying that he wasn't sure if she was real or not.

Byrnes eyes widened and he moved to see who was there when she stopped him.

She held up her hand and his chest bumped into it. 'Chest muscles! XD' He raised an eyebrow at that.

"Go over there, and do... Something else. I'll handle this." She whispered, he gave her a weird look. "Come on. I can handle this much better than you. And it'll be much quicker. Cole wouldn't want you to waste any time now would he?" Byrne sighed in annoyance but moved down the hall anyways.

Aife relaxed a bit and moved to go see Link.

"Link? What are you doing here?" She hissed and walked towards him, being half paranoid of Byrne listening. She turned to see that the spirit thing appeared to look like Zelda. "And why is Zelda floating?" The spirit, Zelda, looked surprised.

"You can see me? How? Most people can't." Zelda said, surprised.

"Well, I do have eyes." Aife replied.

Link started rambling a hundred miles an hour on what happened.

She interrupted him saying that they needed to be quiet, she got a weird look from him, but he nodded and spoke in barely above a whisper to her.

He told her that Zelda was now in spirit form because Cole had taken her body. They met a Lokomo (Anjean) at the Tower of Spirits, stating that they learned from her that Cole was going to use Zelda's body as a vessel for the Demon Kings resurrection. And were now trying to restore the railway tracks and the tower, in order to find Cole and get Zelda's body back.

Aife blinked a few times and tried to process what the kid said to her.

"So... You're trying to stop Cole from bringing Malladus back and using Zelda's body, by going to each of the Realms to restore the tracks, to which, will restore the tower, right?"

"Of course!" Zelda practically yelled. "I can't have some Demon using my body to destroy Hyrule!" The girl shuddered at the thought.

Link frowned a moment then spoke up again. "How did you know the Demon Kings name was Malladus? I don't think I told you that..."

"Oh, Uh.." 'Crap!' She sighed and decided she might as well tell them part of the truth. "Well, you see, I'm... part Lokomo. I was taught a lot of that kind of history from my mentors."

Link's eyes grew very large as did Zelda's.

"That's why you have magic?" Link asked, though it was clear he already figured it out.

"And why you can see me?" Zelda also asked.

"Yep." A rather awkward silence hit them.

"So then, why are you here? Are you going to help us?" Zelda asked.

On normal circumstances Aife would have said 'hell yeah' but she remembered Byrne standing just outside this room. 'Ugh, shit. Does this mean I'm one of the 'bad guys'?' The more she thought about what Link had explained what Coles plan was, the more she realized how screwed she was.

"Ugh... No. I've got this thing I need to do..." She felt terrible.

"What?!" Zelda gasped. "You're too busy to help us save Hyrule from an ancient Demon King?" Zelda continued to give her a 'what the hell is wrong with you!' look.

Aife felt ashamed, but she knew that if she tried to help them or tried to explain what she was really doing, Byrne would come in and ruin everything.

"Please trust me. What I'm doing is... Not something I can get out of, I can't explain now but I promise I'll tell you sometime. I'm just kind of stuck in the middle of something." Aife explained.

Link nodded but Zelda didn't look convinced, the floating girl frowned and thought hard about what Aife said.

"It's okay." Link told her, seeing her worried expression. "You finish up what you need to do, and Zelda and I will complete our task. We can talk about all this later."

This is why she loved Link. The kid was a complete sweet heart.

She smiled at him. "Thanks kid, good luck with your mission."

"You too, and don't worry about us. We'll be fine." She nodded at that.

"Come on, we need to keep moving." Zelda put in.

Link gave her a nod and smiled back at Afie as they said good bye and parted ways. The two kids disappeared up a flight of stairs, Zelda starting to chat to Link about how she missed her body and the like. 'Oh, Link...'

But seeing Link alive and well didn't make Aife feel better. Instead she felt worse for knowing that she was helping those who were doing what Link and Zelda were trying to prevent. 'Maybe I can delay them, and give Link some more time to fix the Tower of Spirits...'

Byrne walked into the room with some sort of green blood on his claw. She refused to look at him.

"Let's keep moving." He told her.

She felt the urge to refuse, to go back and try and redo her mistake of helping them. Had she had known that Zelda was still partially here, and safe with Link, she may not have ran after Cole for taking Zelda. Considering that without her spirit Zelda wouldn't be waking up for a while.

She clenched her jaw, and nodded. Trying to ignore the strange feeling she got from him. She thought of Link again... 'Link and Zelda will make it.' She tried to convince herself. 'I can try and distract Cole to buy them some more time.' But the chances of two kids stopping the resurrection of a demon king were rather slim. Aife and Byrne started to leave the room.

"Oh, hey." She started, he turned to her. "I figured it out."

He raised an eyebrow, and if he didn't have his scarf on she would have been able to see him half smirk. "Sure." He told her, his voice sounding amused.

She rolled her eyes and moved past him.

'So... He must not have heard what happened... Good. That will keep Link safe from him.' And that thought helped soothed her mind.

* * *

**A/N: So, why do you think Byrne wears that scarf? Any ideas or thoughts?**

**Writing about temples suck. So don't be mean if my temple writing skills are lame. I jest, I jest, if you don't like it that's okay.**

**~Whisp**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 666 (le gasp!)**

* * *

Byrne and Aife went up the nearest flight of stairs where they found a few monsters waiting for them.

Aife pulled out her sword and started to slice open the strange red creatures that bobbled around with their large heads towards her. Byrne used his claw, swooping at them as if they were merely flies. Once defeated the creatures turned into a purple/black smoke and disappeared.

Aife giggled, feeling some of her tension being released as she cut through some strange brown creatures that charged at her with tiny horns. She felt a warmth grow around her hand and then there was a small zapping noise as her silvery magic shot out towards the last monster. Byrne gave her a strange look, and something like a mix between amusement and confusion covered his expression.

After getting rid of the last of the weird monster things she pulled out her map, trying to figure out where the door was to the lower levels.

'Yes, that's why went up a flight of stairs, not down...'

"What?" Byrne glanced at her.

She hadn't realized she had spoken out loud.

"Uh, nothing. We need to go through this room," She pointed to the room on the map that was surround by round walls. "Which is on our level... Then up that flight of stairs... Then... Over into this area." She pointed to the far right of the third floor.

He nodded and she lead the way.

They walked up the stairs in silence, large pillars stood on either side of the door way. They walked around them and went south. On the opposite side of the stairs there was a very large key hole/lock blocking the entrance to the next floor. They moved past it and continued around a wall until they turned to the left. The entire temple smelt of trees and dirt, making it seem like they were walking outside in the woods.

While they walked a strange blue spiky slug thing fell in front of Aife. It moved towards her and she hit it with her sword reflexively, causing it to roll up in a ball. She frowned at it, then bent down to poke the strange creature. Just before she was about to touch it, Byrne looked back at her and yelled.

"Don't!"

She flicked her hand away from the creature at his sudden outburst. He quickly grabbed her wrist and jerked her away from the thing. (Which started bloating and turning red in a quick pace.) He whipped her over in front of him, his back facing the blue creature.

"Hey! What's your-" She started.

The blue thing exploded, throwing its spikes around the room which barely missed Byrnes back.

'oh.'

She stared at it for a second, than looked up to see angry golden eyes. 'Are they always angry?'

"Don't be such a fool." He spat and released her wrist.

"Don't be such a jerk." She shot back in a mumbled voice, trying to mock his own deep voice.

They glared at each other for a moment longer. Her head had to tilt up to meet his eyes, while he had to bend his down.

She huffed and turned around to find the secret door Gage had told her about. She walked a little ways, and saw strange purple clouds covering the ground where they needed to go.

"Shit..." She muttered. "Well I guess we can just go back now, considering that we can't exactly breath in poison..." She turned but was blocked by Byrne's chest.

'Ugh! Stupid, giant, chest muscles, always getting in the way...' Her mind rambled.

He raised an eyebrow at her, than started to walk through the thick poisonous fog.

"Don't breath it in." He told her as he entered into the fog.

"Aw, and I so wanted to know what poisonous gas tasted like... What a shame.." He snorted at sarcastic her comment. "First you don't let me touch exploding slugs, now you won't let me breath in poison! Oh, the humanity!" She continued in a dramatic voice.

He looked back at her and made a follow gesture with his hand, ignoring her dramatic speech.

She took in a deep breath before walking through the purple gas. She followed the trail Byrne left through the gas, as they reached the wall. He gestured for her to find the door. She looked around, trying to remember where Gage had pointed where it was.

She pointed to the space behind Byrne and he moved towards it. He lifted his claw and shot dark blue energy at it, revealing the outline of the door as it glowed a dark green. He frowned slightly as he pushed it open and they both entered, moving down a dark flight of stairs. Once she felt the poison had disappeared she took in a deep breath of the somewhat fresh air. They continued down the spiral stair case, their feet echoing along with them.

"Why does Cole want to bring back Malladus?" She asked suddenly.

The question surprised him for a moment.

"... Power, and he is Coles lord."

She frowned at that. "And you're doing this for the same reasons?"

"Yes." He replied. She could tell there was something deeper about the subject for him.

"Hm." She thought about it for a moment, and was about to ask him another question when she heard something... Fluttering?

'Oh goddess...' She realized what was near.

A moth brushed past her face, its dusty wings fluttering like a spaz, causing her to scream.

'Dammit! Why now?' She hated moths. But 'hated' would always be an understatement... A huge understatement.

Byrne looked back at her, she quickly covered her face with her hands and started to breath quickly. 'Just calm down... They're only stupid, dusty, dead looking butterflies... That happen to love spazzing out in front of your face. Ugh...' She shuddered.

"What's wrong?" Byrne asked, though it sounded like he didn't care that much.

"Moths... I-... I hate them.." She whispered and removed her hands from her face while avoiding his gaze.

He watched her for a second longer before continuing down the stairs.

'Wonderful... Stupid moths, making me look weak in front of the stupid ponytail guy...' Her mind grumbled.

When they reached the bottom, there were a few lanterns that barely lit up the area. But enough to allow them to see all the 'lovely' spider webs and dead moths hanging on the ceiling.

'Don't look up. Don't look up.' She reminded herself, shuddering.

From there they walked for quiet some time, finding a few strange bugs and monsters that were easily killed. And every now and then a few traps that triggered monsters to swarm in. They moved around walls and barriers until they came across a room with grass growing on the floor. They walked in and the door closed quickly from behind causing their attention to move over there, while a large creature flew down from the ceiling.

Aife turned and took a quick intake of breath.

A very (very) large moth fluttered in front of them. Yellow eyes outlined in red and blue on top of its fuzzy purple body wavering above the ground in front of them. Brownish dust fluttering off of it's large wings as it floated above the ground, watching them.

Byrne glanced at her, as she felt the blood drain from her face.

"HOLY FU-!" She started, but something covered her mouth before she could finish her curse.

"Don't scream." Byrne warned her, clamping his hand (the non-clawed one) over her mouth. "It might fly at you." He hissed.

Her eye twitched and she turned to him as he removed his hand, 'Is he... Making fun of me?'

His eyes appeared to look quite amused upon seeing her fearful expression. 'Ugh! Jerk!' She clenched her hands to make tight fists.

She glared at him, then pulled her sword out.

She ran up to the giant moth and sliced open it's wing. It let out a bellowing screech and lashed at her with its dusty wings. She let out a shriek and was pushed back from the force of its dusty wings.

Byrne ran up to it and shot electric blue energy at it, causing it to screech again while he whipped his claw back and forth on it. Something about the way he moved while attacking looked familiar. Though she couldn't quite place what it was. The moth flew around the room in circles and spat clouds of poison at them, Byrne was able to dodge them in time, but one hit Aife. She felt a slight sting on her side, she winced but continued to forced her self forward. Her magic was already starting to sooth the stinging.

A few other smaller ones flew down as well, fluttering in circles and spitting poison.

Aife felt her hands grow warm as she summoned her magic. Then, with a flick of her wrists, she shot out her magic. It looked like a silver blade, cutting deeply in the moths body, making green blood splash out. She lifted her sword and cut down the large moth, while Byrne finished off the smaller ones (which seemed to be swarming around him). The larger one spat out green blood and purple poison as it withered away. Shaking furiously, it disappeared, turning into black smoke while leaving behind a pile of dust.

The door behind them re-opened as did a new one from across the room.

Aife started breathing hard, and then made an annoyed yelling sound.

"I hate them!... Stupid moths! Nothing but dust, zombie, butterfly things..." She panted and kicked the pile of dust the moth had left behind. Her hands shook violently and she glared with enough hatred to kill at the dust pile.

She heard Byrne make a strange noise at her breathless, angry rambling.

After a second she realized he had chuckled. She wasn't sure if she should be surprised or outraged at it. So she continued glaring and stomped towards the door.

"Oh, shut up, let's just find that tear and leave." She grumbled at him.

"Hmm or else more moths may come..." He mused.

She froze and looked back him. She shuddered at the thought, then glared at him.

He gestured towards the door his eyes looking amused, "Ladies first." He said and they both entered.

They walked down some more stairs, though it wasn't as long as the others. A tremendous shaking caused her and Byrne to stop moving.

'What would that be from?' She shook her head hoping it wasn't an even larger moth coming. Link and Zelda came to mind. 'What the hell are they doing up there?'

When the shaking stopped they continued down the stairs and ended up in another dimly lit area. The room was round and had a green painted spiral in the center that spun around the entire room.

In the center of it stood a pedestal, and on top of it, nothing.

She walked over to it, frowning.

"I don't understand, it should be here... There should be some sort of energy dome around the tear, and..."

She turned to see Byrne, who walked up beside her looking angry.

He let out a disappointed sigh.

"Perhaps we're in the wrong room?" He said, sounding annoyed.

"No... It should be here.." She repeated. She looked at the pedestal carefully, then poked the center of it, where an angry red eye was carved into it. The pedestal shook and the door they had come from closed shut with a loud snap of bars blocking their exit. "Oh, wonderful..." She pulled her sword out.

"Why must you poke dangerous things?" Byrne growled.

"Hey I didn't know! And that slug thing looked very poky..." She muttered and he let out a sigh.

"You are a very strange girl." He noted.

"Gee, thanks."

"Which will get you into trouble." He adds.

"Oh? You mean more than I already am in?" She questioned sarcastically.

"Perhaps." Was all he said.

She turned away from him as the stone tiles beneath them started to tremble and shake. Then, from the ground, came a very large golem like creature.

The golem had yellow eyes outlined in red and blue, similar to the moth, with one on his chest and another on his back. Its skin looked like grey rocks with patches of grass on them, and it looked a lot taller than Byrne. She vaguely remembered Gage mentioning a guardian...

The thing growled/roared at them just before it charged.

"Move!" Aife yelled, as the enormous creature ran at them, knocking down the pedestal.

Aife and Byrne jumped out of the way, on either side of it. The thing hit the wall with a large crashing noise, causing the room to shake.

She got up and turned to see Byrne standing and already getting ready to attack.

"Oh! Hey! I forgot to mention, there's a very powerful guardian protecting the tear. In case you didn't notice!" She yelled at him.

"Oh Really!?" He yelled back, giving her a what the fu* is wrong with you face before turning back to the golem.

"I was just saying..." She mumbled and stood.

She readied her sword and, for second, just watched. She didn't know why, but the way he moved seemed similar to what she was trained by the other Lokomos. The way he blocked, then stuck at the golem when an opening appeared was... Similar...

She shook her head and snuck around to the back of the golem. The eye saw her and the golem started to turn towards her, she quickly jabbed her sword at it but didn't make as big of an impact as she had wanted. She swung her blade at it's arm, the hit hurt her hands, and it didn't seem to harm the golem either. The golem swung at her with its enormous arm, knocking her against the wall. It took a step towards her and she blasted the creature away with her mind, stopping it from smashing her like a bug, though it only staggered for a second before continuing to try and smash her again.

Byrne shot out from his claw an enormous shot of dark blue electricity at the creature, causing it to freeze up from the energy stabbing into it.

Aife saw that the large eye in the front was vulnerable, so she jabbed her sword forward, stabbing into the eye. The golem regained control of its body and smacked her sword away.

'The eye...'

"Byrne! Do that thing again!" She yelled over at him.

While he was slashing at the golem he looked up at her, confused for a moment, then, seeming to realize what she was talking about he yelled back. "Distract him!" Aife did so.

She charged up to the enormous golem, whipping her blade around at it, though it didn't make a scratch on the stone skin it had. Its attention was on her now, and from the corner of her eye she was able to see Byrne trying to summon up more of his magic. The golem raised its arms and smashed them down at her, there was a loud crash as her sword flew up to block.

'Hurry...' The golem's hits were becoming more difficult for her to hold back. After another minute of trying to break through rock solid arms with her flimsy sword, Byrne launched another blue/black electric orb at the creature.

The golem froze up again when the dark energy made contact with it. She slashed her sword at the eye, making it become more and more red.

The golem broke off and tried to knock her back again. But she just barely moved out of the way in time. For a bit longer Byrne and Aife continued hitting it from either side, making it continuously having to turn around to face them.

Finally when the golem was swinging back to face her, she thrust forward, stabbing her blade into her center of the eye. The golem roared in pain and knocked her away. She hit the wall and an 'oof' escaped her lips as she groaned. It grabbed her by the arm and lifted her into the air. Its grip was extremely tight on her arm and she screamed at it in pain. Anger and fear boiled inside her and she pressed her palm against its forehead and shot out a large amount of her magic, straight into its head.

It shook violently as it began to crack around where we magic had hit it. It dropped her and dark light poured from the new cracks and it blew apart. Aife covered her head with her arms and the pieces from the golem froze in mid-air and then turned into sharp black shards that retracted back together, forming a tear like shape. She looked ahead of herself to see Byrne watching her with a strange expression on, he looked away first to where the black shards had floated to.

Aife were breathing hard as her heart pounded in her chest. She her watched the strange black object float over top of where the pedestal use to be. 'The tear of darkness...' The spiral on the floor started glowing a dark green. She watched Byrne approach it and he cautiously reached for it.

The tear was completely black with a dark green aura surrounding it, making it look more ominous.

Byrne scooped it up in his palm, though it did not actually touch his claw, instead it continued floating slightly above it. Aife got up and approached him as he stared intently at the dark object, his gold eyes gleaming.

"Alright. We've got what we came for, let's return to Cole." He told her.

She nodded reluctantly, wincing slightly at the pain in her arm, and they headed back up the stairs, saying nothing to each other.

* * *

**A/N: Oh my god... This chapter is finally over! *Falls on ground***  
**This took forever! I had to spilt it in half... Because it was too damn long...**  
**Ugh, I really hate moths... Hate hate hate hate hate them... Etc.**

**Q: Do you have a phobia? Or just really really hate something?**

**~Whisp**


	7. Chapter 7

**ch. 'Seven' is considered to be the next chapter... Right?**

* * *

When they reached the entrance of the temple, Aife was officially sick of the forest. And anything green for that matter...

The setting sun made the sky a very deep orange, as it did for the top of the trees. The air had a slight chill to it, but the warmth of the suns beams made it comforting.

"We did it!" Aife pointed out. Even though what it lead up to was completely evil, she still felt like she had accomplished something. "We totally kicked Golem ass in there..." Byrne gave her a strange look, somewhere between 'what the hell is wrong with you?' and an amused expression (which he seemed to make every time he looked at her).

But there was a slight softness to his gaze, though, Aife did not catch it. He listened to her ramble on on how they completely destroyed those freaking zombie butterflies asses. Even saying the word 'moth' bothered her.

She felt somewhat satisfied in a way. Thinking that this was the kind of excitement she was looking for. Though it was under ridiculous circumstances, she was a little giddy now. She actually killed a giant stone golem... She smirked to herself.

Byrne stopped walking suddenly, staring at the sky where the Temple of Spirits was. Aife looked over as well, trying to figure out why he looked angry again.

A piece of the tower had been placed back on top of the base of it.

She blinked a few times, realizing what this meant.

'Link really is putting the tower back together... Cole's gonna be pissed.' She wasn't sure if it that was going to be fun to watch or scary as hell, considering how he already had a huge temper.

Byrne grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward.

"Let's go. Cole will be expecting us."

"He's gonna be really pissed off..." She muttered.

"It'll be worse if we waste time chatting." He told her.

She tried to keep up with his long legs as his warm hand trudged her along.

They rushed through the forest until a familiar train appeared. Byrne let go of her and they walked over to where the door was hiding.

Byrne opened it with his magic and jumped in by using the handle. He turned to her and reached his hand down for her to grab.

She grabbed onto the bar then reached for his hand. He pulled her up easily, his muscles flexing as he helped her up. When she was finally in the train, he was very close to her. If they were to breath in at the same time their chests may have bumped together.

Byrne leaned forward suddenly, with a strange look in his eyes, and used his free hand to reach around her, slowly. She froze, unsure what to do as he moved even closer, their breath mingling together. There was something different about his expression as he stared at her, but she could not decipher what. His golden eyes stared intensely into her own, and she felt her breath hitch as her cheeks grew warm.

He grabbed the door behind her and slammed it shut. He glanced down at her for a second and she could only stare back. She saw his cheeks become slightly red (barely noticeable from the scarf hiding most of his face).

But their staring was interrupted by a loud smash and the door to the control room opened causing Aife to jump slightly.

Cole came out from it, and Byrne slowly moved away from her. Any expression in his face was gone in an instant.

Cole, on the other hand, looked very pissed. His face was red, a vein in his forehead was pulsing with rage, and his sharp teeth were clenched together. Aife could see the control room was a mess, papers scattered everywhere and one of the control handles was sparking from being smashed.

"Those pesky _VERMIN_!" Cole started shrieking about how he was going to rip them (The Lokomo guardians) to shreds if he ever saw their faces, and similar violent things were also mentioned.

Aife sighed in relief. 'Good. That means he didn't see Link and Zelda...' She knew his threats were empty, but she had never heard someone yell that way before. She wasn't sure how to react.

"YOU!" He yelled towards Aife, making her jump again. "You led them here, didn't you?" She started to deny it but he continued. "You led them here in hoping that they would restore the tracks and the tower before we completed our job! I should have killed you the moment you wandered into that castle! You pathetic, weak little BRAT." He screamed at her.

She was stuck between being completely outraged and afraid. Her hands started shaking from both.

"You stupid little dwarf! If it wasn't for me you and Byrne would have NEVER found where your precious tears were hidden! And I can still lead you astray if you piss me off, so don't you ever, call me such things again, you ASSHOLE!" She snarled back.

He, for a split second, almost looked surprised that she would yell back at him. Even Byrne seemed shocked. But that was quickly covered over with rage and Coles eyes and hands started twitching in fury.

"HOW DARE YOU-!" His hands started glowing a dark purple as he started yelling some more unpleasant things.

'Shit. Note to self: don't yell at pissed off leprechauns. Ever.'

"Leave. Now." Byrne hissed and stepped in front of her, blocking her from Coles view, which allowed her to escape as the dwarf started ranting an cursing about goddess knows what.

She quickly went down the narrow hallway, and back to the room she had first woken up in.

She closed the door and leaned against it, her body shaking from the yelling. After a moment she moved and dropped herself on one of the nearby seats. She had never heard anyone yell like that. Ever. None of the Lokomos every got that angry and Alfonzo did yell a lot, but nothing like that. It made her uncomfortable.

She could still hear loud yelling, and something being smashed. Cole continued ranting/yelling for quite some time. Though she didn't hear anyone else talking back. 'How many times has Byrne had to put up with this?'

When it started to become quieter she heard a great slam of a door, then nothing but the creaking of metal. She closed her eyes, 'This is going to be a very long journey with these two...' Cole with his bad temper and being a pompous ass. Then Byrne, acting like a jerk one minute then (some what) nice the next.

She groaned and punched the seat in front of her. Guilt started bubbling in her, 'Helping these guys resurrect the Demon King himself... Yeah the Goddess will sure be proud...' She wasn't an extremely religious person. But she believed enough in the goddess/spirits of good that she didn't have to pray to them every five seconds. Like some of the other Lokomos had taught her to, (*cough* 'Anjean' *cough*), she only found that annoying.

She decided that stressing over it would only make things worse. She knew that what she was doing was wrong, and she promised herself that she would make it better anyway she could. But right now, if she pissed off Cole again by refusing to help or something, she doubted that she would live much longer. And trying to escape with Byrne always there didn't exactly give her much hope.

'Perhaps I could mess up their plan? Or do something to help Link gain more time...' She knew that would be a long shot, so she decoded to just go with. 'Link will be able to fix the tracks and stop Cole...' She tried to convince herself.

She let out a long shaky sigh, and heard the door open and close behind her.

She looked over to see Byrne come in, he moved and sat in the seat across from her. She wanted to thank him for allowing her to avoid being killed by the insane dwarf with anger issues, but he spoke first.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

Coming from him, surprised her. She blinked at him for a second and then spoke.

"Yeah, fine..." She muttered softly. He didn't look convinced so she decided to get the attention away from her. "Do you always have to deal with him? When he's angry like that I mean."

Byrne frowned, then nodded.

"Why?" She asked, he looked up at her. "Why do you bother putting up with that?" She could hardly put up with Cole for a whole minute.

He gave her a strange look, as though that thought had never occurred to him, as though he had never questioned it before. He avoided her gaze as he spoke.

"You already know why." He told her.

"Do I? Because I don't think anyone should have to put up with crap like that." She sighed. "How long have you been with him?"

"A while." He responded.

"I would ask why... But..."

"You already know." He finished.

"I guess so." She sighed again. "Where are we going to now?" She asked him.

"The Snow Realm... But lucky for you, we won't be traveling with Cole."

"Oh... And why is that? Not, that I'm complaining."

She could see a bit of a smirk in his gaze.

"He... Needs to work on something else, due to the fact that he no longer has as much time as he originally thought."

"Mm hmm, wait... You said the Snow realm?"

"I did."

She couldn't help but smile.

"What?" He asked.

"It's just... My great great uncle lives there... Steem." She hadn't seen him in, what seemed like, forever.

"Your great uncle is the guardian of the Snow realm?"

"Yep. Wait... How would you know that?" Something seemed off about the way he had responded.

"I've trained with him a few times, but that was years ago." His expression grew grim.

"You..." ('oh!') "You're a Lokomo!" She realized. 'Duh, thats why he seemed familiar!' She frowned. 'Wow Aife, took you long enough.' A voice in her head muttered. She wanted to yell at it to shut up, but decided she would rather keep her sanity.

He rolled his eyes. "What gave me away?" Though he wasn't being serious she answered anyways.

"Probably... The way you..." She would have said moved but something else came to mind. "Smell." She told him, smiling.

"What?" He squinted at her, trying to figure out if he heard right.

"All you full blooded Lokomo's smell the same... You didn't know?" She smiled, enjoying how he seemed confused by her teasing.

"I'm... Not sure to if I should ask how you know what I 'smell' like or completely ignore you..." He muttered more to himself.

She giggled and rolled her eyes. "I was kidding. You don't smell like old people."

"You say that like you do know what I smell like..." He said cautiously.

"Maybe I do... But I'm not going to tell you."

"And why is that?"

She smirked. "Well I've got to remain somewhat mysterious."

He shook his head, looking away to hide the smile in his eyes. She was about to ask him about his scarf when the train jerked forward, causing her to swing foreword. Luckily she was able to catch herself before she fell on him.

'Maybe next time I'll fake fall on him and then-...' Her mind continued to think of evil plans to poke his muscles. And desperately she held back a girlish giggle.

"You should get some rest. We'll be continuing tomorrow." He said, interrupting her thoughts.

She nodded, and he got up and left.

'Well... Maybe this won't be so terrible...' She rested her cheek on her pulled up knees as she started to doze off.

* * *

_'Aife...' A female voice called._

_'What?' Aife called back, trying to find where the voice was coming from. 'Where are you?'_

_'It'll be alright, all will end well' The voice said in a soothing tone._

_She tried to understand what the voice was telling her._

_'What do you mean? I don't understand!'_

_'I know child...' The voice spoke sweetly. 'It's time to get up now...' The voice started to fade._

_'Wait! What does that mean?' She called for it, but heard nothing. She turned to see a white light starting to fade, then from the darkness came yellow eyes, watching her as she screamed._

* * *

Aife gasped as she jerked her head up quickly. Her head became dizzy from the sudden motion. 'Yeah... Not the greatest idea..'

For a second, she thought she was back in her own room, at Steems house. The air was cool and the grey, at first appeared to have a blue tinge to it. When she rubbed her eyes she saw the grey metal room of the train she was really in. She felt a bit disappointed. Then she remembered the voice in her dream, 'What was it saying?' She couldn't remember. But she did remember seeing yellow eyes. She shuddered at the thought of them.

She stretched and stood up. Byrne walked in.

"We need to go." He said.

"Well good morning to you too hun'." She smiled sweetly at him. "Where are we now?"

"The Snow Realm. But I'm, having trouble reaching the temple..." He looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Oh?" 'Maybe you're just not good at driving trains...' She decided to keep that last thought to herself.

"It's.. This storm, every time I try and go through it, we end up back where we started."

She thought about what he said. "That storm has been there for a while, I could talk to Steem..." She added hopefully.

"No."

"No?" 'What's wrong with that?'

"We cannot waste time talking with an old man. We need to get through the storm and into the temple as quickly as possible." He told her seriously.

She was a bit offended. "Well if we continue trying to charge through it with no map, then we'll never get there."

"We have maps."

"Well maybe you have the wrong one. Let's get a better one from Steem."

"No."

She huffed in annoyance.

"Fine. Have fun trying to get to the temple." She sat back down, crossing her arms defiantly.

He made an annoyed sound, grumbled a few (what sounded like) curses in some other language, and slammed the door shut as he left. The noise echoed through the room.

She was about to try and lie down on the seat, when the train made a ninety degrees turn then stopped just as quickly a minute after, causing her to fall off the seat.

She let out a squeal and hit the floor. 'Ow...'

Byrne walked in again, slammed the door, then stopped in front of her. She got up, rubbing the hip she landed on and sat back in her seat.

"You're a terrible driver." She told him, making it sound all matter-of-fact like.

He rolled his eyes.

"Did you want to talk with Steem or not?" He growled.

"Yes." She said without hesitating, perking up slightly. She stood up, and followed him down the hall.

He re-opened the (not so secret) side door with his claw, and jumped out.

Before she jumped out, something caught her eye.

'My bag!' She grabbed it and jumped out, just as the door closed behind her.

She first noticed how white everything was, then the cool prick of snowflakes on her skin, and the crunch of ice under her feet. The air was crisp with light fluffy snowflakes and the ground was soft, covered with a fresh layer of snow.

Byrne frowned and then started walking, she followed behind him.

She walked in the same spots he did. His feet were larger, but she managed to walk in the dents of the snow he left. She smiled to her self as she stretched her legs a little farther to step in his footprints.

He stopped suddenly, causing her to bump into his back. She let out a noise of surprise, and tried to regain proper footing by stepping back. She missed the large footprint she was aiming for.

"Dammit..." She muttered.

He looked back at her, frowning. "What are you doing?"

She looked up at him, smiling like an idiot.

"Following your footprints, I really look up to you." She smirked. 'I mean come on, it's not like I could look down on him... He's too tall.'

He snorted and gave her a funny look. He turned and started walking away, somewhat faster.

"Yeah, you're my roll model!" She called after him, hoping onto each dent. "You'd make a really great mentor!"

She almost caught up with him, when he stopped, and she, unthinkingly, bumped into him... Again.

"Okay, now your just doing that on purpose." She complained.

"Take your sword out." He growled.

She was about to ask why when she looked in front of him.

Three 'friendly' looking wolves approached them with their teeth bared, and their fur raised.

"Heh... Funny you should say that..." She started.

"You don't have it?!"

"No. Because someone keeps stealing it from me." She told him.

He snarled, as he whipped his claw at the approaching wolves.

"I did not steal it." He told her sternly.

She snorted.

"Sure... So you were just borrowing it right?"

He let out an annoyed sound.

"You're hopeless."

"You're mean." She shot back.

He was about to make a witty response but was interrupted by a wolf jumping at him.

Aife decided that she should help out. Considering that he would use that against her later.

She saw a wolf about to pounce at Byrnes back, and she tried to picture it being stopped by some sort of wall. She tried to control the energy in creating a barrier around the wolf.

So when the wolf pounced, it was stopped midway, she swooped her hands downward and the wolf crashed down into the snow. It laid there for a second then got up and ran away squealing.

She smiled, and brushed away the hair that fell onto her face.

Byrne finished with the last ones with a finale swoop of his claw.

He turned back to her.

"You could have at least tried to help." He told her lazily.  
(He didn't see her mind powers in action!)

Her eye twitched and she bit her lip. She blinked a few times at him.

"But- I just-... ugh!" She quickly bent down and grabbed a handful of snow, then threw it right at his face.

His arms didn't quite react quickly enough to block it. It splattered against his cheeks. When he brushed the snow from his eyes, he glared at her. (A/N: You could say it was a very 'cold' glare... *Snort giggle snort*)

"What's wrong with you?!" He yelled as she began to laugh at him.

"What's wrong with you?" She questioned back. "Must you always be so serious?"

He started towards her.

"Must you treat everything like a joke? Do you not realize what is happening? Are you not able to understand? Or is this to complex for your human mind to wrap around?"

"I'm half human." She reminded him, slowly starting to stop her fit of giggles.

"Ah, that would explain a lot." He said.

"What's that suppose to mean?" He was started to step on very dangerous ground.

"It means that you are unable to comprehend what is truly going on, that you are an ignorant child. That because of your human blood you will always be like this." He approached closer until he was right in front of her. 'Child?'

She suddenly felt cold, but not from the snow.

"Perhaps your the ignorant one." She half whispered.

"Oh?"

She looked up at him.

"Do you know why I act like this?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"I act like this to avoid the cruel reality. Call me weak, but it's better than dealing with the weight of every day pulling me down."

He stared down at her.

"I... Don't understand." He finally got out. She started to feel over whelmed as words started to rush out of her.

"No, you don't. And you never will. You'll never know what it's like to be caught between opposite worlds, one where you'll never be able to get proper training because of weak human blood. And the other where you'll never be able to live normally because of magic tainting you. And knowing that you'll never be able to be apart of either. I may be part human, but that doesn't make me ignorant."

He said nothing.

"Then why do you-" She cut him off. Anger and stress and just about every other thing she had been holding back rushed out.

"What? What do you want to hear? Do you want to hear my pathetic story of how my own parents abandoned me at the age of five because they found out about my so called gifts? That, because I wasn't entirely human they didn't want me? And after all of that, I should hate being part Lokomo, right? I should want to be entirely human just so that I would be accepted by my own blood? Well you know what? I don't. I hate it. This human blood in me is a constant reminder that I'll never be good enough, I'll never be strong enough, and I'll never be able to get rid of this weakness. I take things lightly, to avoid being hurt! And now I'm stuck with two insane guys who are trying to revive the Demon King, which is completely against everything I was taught!" She rambled out angrily and he flinched slightly.

When she finally stopped the words from draining out of her she could no longer look at him. She covered her mouth with her hand, afraid of more words spilling out. Why she had started rambling about this, she did not know.

Memories of a women and man staring in horror as their child lifted an animal up without touching it, then dropping it as the women grabbed her, dragging her away from her home. Looking horrified. Bringing her to a man named Steem, who received the burden of raising his half Lokomo niece. They didn't even glance back as they walked away, leaving their child in the cold endless winter.

She moved around him, and continued down the trail to Steems house.

Tears pricked at her eyes.

'Dammit Aife. Don't start this now. Goddess... Why does this always happen?'

"Aife." Byrne said from behind.

Her muscles grew tense and she moved quicker. She rubbed her eyes to stop the water from freezing them shut.

"I don't want to hear it." She told him.

"Hey." He caught up with her and grabbed her elbow. "I do not consider you to be weak. And I am sorry to have brought this up."

'That's... Unexpected...'

"No... It's fine. It's... I-..." She wasn't sure what to say, so she just threw something less serious out to loose the tension. "I'll... just never throw snow at you again..." She sniffed. "Quite a shame really, snow throwing is very amusing." She rubbed her eyes again.

She could practically feel him roll his eyes, but he smirked none the less.

"Let's get those maps and leave." He told her.

He continued forward and she followed beside him, no longer wanting to trail along in his footsteps.

* * *

**A/N: Soooo... Anyone up for popcorn?**  
**No?**  
**Fine. No popcorn for you!**  
**... How about a cookie? (::) ? Anyone? No? *sigh* you people are no fun... I kid I kid. I love all of you read this.**

**Tip: Don't throw snow at angry guys with claws.**

**~Whisp**


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: CHAPTER EIGhT is next:

-Evanescence "Last Breath"

_"Hold onto me love,_  
_You know I can stay long._  
_All I wanted to say was, _  
_I love you and I'm not afraid..._  
_/_  
_\\\_  
_I'll miss the winter, _  
_A world of fragile peace._  
_Look for me in the white forest, Hiding in a hollow tree. _  
_(Will you find me?)_  
_I know you hear me..._  
_I can taste it in your tears!"_

-Globus "One Truth"

_"How many lives are forsaken by the demons at the gate? Teach the child within to hate..."_

A/N: _... 7 Chapters have passed. Another is coming... _  
_This one... Is called... _  
_...Chapter... Eight... (Le gasp!)_  
Ah, Drama...

* * *

Aife noticed how Byrnes shoulders became more tense as they got closer and closer to Steems house. She could already see the familiar painted blue and green roof. The sight made her heart throb.

"What's wrong?" She asked him, seeing his tensed expression.

"It's nothing."

She rolled her eyes. 'Liar.'

She sighed. "Next time just tell me you don't to want to talk about it, or something like that... But don't lie to me." She told him.

He didn't say anything but instead stopped walking.

"Steem is in there. You should go and talk with him about the maps, I'll wait out here." He stared towards the house with guarded eyes.

She frowned. "Why? He's not that scary." She tried to read his blank expression but like usual, found nothing.

"It's not that." His voice sounded a bit forced.

She was able to see a flash of sadness flash over his eyes but it was quickly covered up with an unreadable expression, she decided it would be best if she didn't pester him about it. She sighed again.

"Alright." She started walking towards the house. His hand caught her arm suddenly, making her look back at him.

"Don't think about trying anything, I'll be listening the entire time." He warned her.

'Stallkkkeeerrr...' She frowned slightly.

"Fine. Just don't mess this up." She squinted at him, and gestured from her eyes to his as if to say 'I'm watching you.', while trying very hard to hide her amused expression.

He snorted at that. "You think I'll mess this up?" He shook his head. "You make no sense."

"Sure." She muttered. She looked down at his hand on her arm. "Umm, can I go now? Or are you not finished feeling up my arm?"

She saw his cheeks turn slightly red as he let her arm go.

"Just... Just be quick." He rushed out and walked into the nearby woods, looking flustered.

She cocked her head to the side, watching him leave. She smiled slightly. 'Aw, he's kind of cute when he blushes...' But she shook her head and moved on.

She looked ahead to see her home. The sight made her smile, the warm orange walls with strange blues and greens for the roof, all having strange diamond patterns across them. The long building had a few different rooms, with several windows. The building itself was built into the mountain, attaching it to the Snow Sanctuary. An orange light flickered from the kitchen window.

She walked up to the large double wooden doors and knocked before entering. A familiar warmth hit her and the smell of some sort of soup filled her nose. She could hear humming coming down the hall, and she smiled.

Steem was an amazing lute player, to which he would often sing quietly while he played. He had taught her a few songs, but the lyrics were lost in her memories now. She continued down the hall, passing by old rooms filled with equipment and supplies. Her room was down the opposite hall, she was tempted to go down there and see if he had changed anything... She hadn't slept in her own bed for over a month.

She stopped just before the open door that led into the kitchen. Her hearts pace picked up and she let out a sigh before walking into the kitchen light.

Steem was sitting in his icy blue wheel chair, (which, for whatever reason, had puffs of white clouds coming out of the backwards snout), in front of an overly large pot that was making bubbling noises and steaming.

She cleared her throat, not exactly sure what to say.

He turned, looked up at her, and smiled warmly. He had white bushy eyebrows matching his beard, and his hair combed into a white bun on top of his head. His eyes had this sort of tilt to them that made him look as if he were always sad. They had a strange orangish brown tinge to them.

"Aife?" He rolled up to her in his chair as she walked over to him.

She smiled and gave him a quick embrace. She hadn't seen him for so long that hugging him didn't bother her.

"It's good to see you Steem." Tears pricked at her eyes, 'Dammit girl, don't start this again...'

When their hug ended he gave her a strange look.

"Where have you been? Anjean said that you went missing, and Alfonzo had no idea where you were. You had me worked sick!"

"Sorry... I just, things are a bit complicated now. I can't stay long but I really need those-"

He cut her off. "What do you mean? Of course you're staying! At the very least for the night. I haven't seen you in over a month and already you're trying to sneak away!"

"Steem, I told you it's complicated and I'll explain when this all over, but I really need those old maps to the Snow Temple. It's really important." She urged him.

He watched her warily for a moment, then nodded and turned.

"Alright. I'll give you those maps... On one condition."

"That is?"

"You stay the night and get some proper sleep, you look practically dead!" He told he and winked.

"Oh geez, thanks." She mumbled and walked over with him to the large boiling pot. "But I really don't know if I can stay, there's something I need to do..." Byrne came to mind, 'He won't be pleased at staying here...' Though she couldn't exactly tell Steem that one of his former students would also be staying here in secret because that former student, apparently, didn't want to see his old teacher. But she couldn't say no without him asking more questions. She sighed. "Alright, but I really need those maps, then I have to leave again in the morning."

He said nothing for a moment.

"Hmm, alright. But you are going to have to explain later why you're acting so mysterious."

She chuckled. "It's part of my character. How else I'm I suppose to survive in this world?" He laughed and shooed her away.

"Go wash up, this will be ready soon." She smiled and left.

"Why did you make so much? Expecting company?" She called over her shoulder while leaving through the door.

"I had a feeling some one would be coming!..." He called back.

She went down the hall to her room, and carefully opened the door. She breathed a sigh of relief. For the most part it was still the same, if not for the extra dust floating around.

She had dark blue walls (with large ivory diamonds painted on), a double sized bed pushed against the one corner of the room, a few shelves filled with books, and a wooden closet. She breathed in the scent of her abandoned room. She flopped down into her bed, her body feeling like a million pounds.

After a minute she remembered Byrne waiting outside.

"Shit..." She walked over to her window and opened it, allowing the frigid air to creep in. "Byrne?" She called out. She waited a moment before she saw him approach from along the side of the house. He did not look pleased. "Hey guess what?! Sleep over at my place!" She tried to make her voice cheery, but he only glared back.

"You were suppose to get the maps and leave. Not play around in your house."

"Well, things became a bit complicated, and he locks them up anyways, so even if I do try steal them they'd be protected by some sort of force field, alright?"

"Why are they locked away?"

"I don't know! He has a few secret hidden treasures around the area that he doesn't want anyone to find." Byrne raised an eyebrow and made a strange face. "Yeah, I know it's weird, but we're never going to be able to get to the temple if we don't have those maps. So you're gonna have to suck it up. We're staying the night."

He sighed. "Fine." He grumbled and started to turn.

"Where are you going?" She asked before he took a step away.

"Back to the train for the night. I do not wish to see Steem."

'Okay, that's just mean.'

"You don't have to see each other, you can hide in here, he doesn't come in this room. And plus you'll freeze to death in that metal death tube." He gave her a strange look then sighed again.

"Fine, get away from the window." He commanded.

She moved and Byrne jumped onto the ledge, then hopped down into her room.

He looked around, then frowned.

"This is your room?" He asked staring at the billions of drawings posted up on her walls.

"Yeah... I'm going to go change and get some food for us, stay here." She saw him move to examine her sketches more closely. "Don't touch anything!" She hissed, he turned and his eyes appeared to have some sort of dark amusement in them. "Ugh... Sneaking a boy into my room... For shame Aife..." She grumbled to herself, he chuckled.

She grabbed a black sweater, some tights, and undergarments then she left the room, closing the door behind her.

She let out a sigh and went straight into the room across from her own, the 'glorious' washroom. She locked the door and started to peel off her tunic and the rest of her filthy clothes. She filled the tub in the middle of the room with hot water and threw in some soaps before climbing in. The room started to become more foggy, warming her bare skin.

She soaked in the water, rubbing her scalp with soap and letting the warm water calm her nerves and relax her sore muscles. After lying there for a few minutes, she began to scrub off the dirt from her feet, and basically everywhere else that was dirty. Once finished she rinsed herself off and grabbed a towl to dry herself with. Her long hair already starting to curl from the water.

She threw on her clean clothes and walked out of the room while she dried her hair. She walked down to the kitchen, and smiled when she saw Steem.

They ate their soup together and made small talk for a bit. She asked him how thing have been going around here, and about the other Lokomos. He said that it has been going well, the only major difference being that the house is much more quite, she made a face at that, and that from what he had heard a few weeks ago, the others were doing well. Steem then asked her about how her training with Alfonzo went, and if there were any handsome men in that area.

"It went well, Alfonzo was a bit busy at times, but he was a good teacher... Um..." She thought of Link. 'Well he's a cute kid... And Alfonzo isn't really my type... But...' Then Byrne came to mind. "Well... This one guy is pretty handsome..." She frowned, 'Handsome doesn't seem like the right wording... But Steem doesn't need to know the details..' "-but... It doesn't really mean anything."

"What? Do you know what Embrose would say to that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Something about strong 'Feelings' and the like, but really, nothing could really happen, I think he's attractive, but that doesn't mean any 'strong feelings' need to be involved." 'Right?' She shook her head. "Anyways, if anything, he hates me." She stirred the remains of her soup, avoiding his gaze.

"Why would he hate you? You're a very friendly girl, he should have no reason to unless you forced it upon yourself..."

'Heh, well I did throw snow at him...'

"I don't know. It's complicated..."

'Well, it's that kind of complicated situation where the guy is trying to raise the Demon King and the girl is caught in the middle of it, and if she doesn't help him then he'll probably be forced to kill her, sort of situation... You know?' Saying such a thing would cause Steem to become very worried for her mental health.

"Hmm, well perhaps in time you'll see if he's good enough for you. Did you need to... Talk... About certain... Precautions...?" Steem struggled for the right words.

It took her a second to realize what he was trying to say.

"Oh! Goddess no! Geez, no I wasn't implying that at all! No! Ugh, no... It's not that sort of complicated situation." 'Geesh! I'm not that friendly!'

Steem laughed at her. "I was only joking, dear!" He started to leave the room. "Well I'm going to bed now, I'll see you in the morning." He rolled out of the kitchen, winking before he left.

"Good night! And don't forget about the maps!" She called after him, and he called back a good night from down the hall.

She sighed and let her head fall against the table.

'ugh...'

After a moment of trying (very) hard not to think about what Steem just said, she got up and grabbed another bowl of soup for Byrne. It was still warm as she carried it down the hall, opposite to Steem, and into her room.

She opened the door by bumping her hip into it, to see Byrne sitting on her bed, leaning against the wall and reading a rather large looking book.

"Hey, I brought you some soup."

He looked up at her.

"... Thank you." She handed it to him and sat beside him.

"What are you-" She saw the book he was reading wasn't a book, but was her sketching book instead, he was already near the end. She felt blood rush to her cheeks and she tried to grab it away from him. "What do you think you're doing? That's private! It's practically like a journal to me!"

"I don't see what the problem is. It's only drawings." He told her. She reached over him as he extended his arm away from her, their noses were almost close enough to be touching, and her chest brushed against his own, making his cheeks turn slightly red.

For a second she froze, just staring into his deep golden eyes, which, for once, did not appear angry. She could feel his hot breath, creep along her neck. Aife felt blood creep up to her cheeks and she blinked a few times before she was able to snatch her sketch book away.

"... Well they're private. And didn't I tell you not to touch anything?" He shrugged and continued holding the soup she brought. "And wasn't this hidden under my bed?..."

"I like them. I don't see why you hide them." He told her.

She frowned and got up to put it back with the others.

"I... Thanks but, next time, just ask first... Wait... How many of these did you look at?" The other sketch books did not appear to be in the right order.

"... You... were gone for a while, and I became bored." He finally got out.

"Ugh..." She groaned. "Just... Ask. Alright? Next time just say: 'Hey, Aife, is it okay if I look through your private sketches?' And then I'll say: 'No, Byrne. No it's not okay, because they're private!'" She sat back down next to him, leaning an elbow against her pillow.

"Do you always talk to yourself?" He questioned.

"Sometimes... But when I'm really bored I snoop through others private stuff..." She said, trying to make a point, though it was clear she was over explaining it.

"Well, then I apologize for admiring your sketches." He told her while rolling his eyes.

She sighed.

"It's fine..."

"They seem sad." He adds.

She shrugged. "Just a way to vent out... Negativity." A moment of silence passed by. 'Ask him about the scarf!' Her mind screamed at her. She hesitated for a moment before speaking, counting up to one hundred.

"So, I'm curious..." She started.

"About?"

"Why you always wear that scarf? Surely you so do not wear for looks. Plus you can't exactly eat soup when covering your mouth." She added as an after thought.

He smiled slightly. "No, it is not for 'looks'."

She glanced at him. "Then why?"

He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "What compels you to know?"

She looked away. Thinking of an appropriate answer. 'Come on, say something clever or witty...'

"Well... I don't know really... Just curious, I guess." 'Damn.'

"Hm. You... Really care to know?" She glanced at him.

"Yeah. I guess I do." Something strange passed over his eyes, but it was gone as soon as it appeared.

He let out a long sigh. His eyes looking lost in thought, as he spoke.

(A/N: Alright Byrnes flashback story. This is much easier than having him explain it in dialogue!)

_Byrne slammed the training room door shut, the sound echoed down the hall. His hands shook with rage._

_'Why?! No matter how hard I work, why is it not enough for them?!' Again he had tried desperately to impress the spirits in hope that they would grant him the power of his desires. Yet again, nothing._

_He slammed his fist against the nearest wall, making a dent in the stone. 'Am I not strong enough? Is my mind too weak? How long will it take to impress them? Months? Years?!' His anger boiled inside him. 'Perhaps Cole is right...' _

_He had been training for over a century, yet the spirits never seem to notice, or care, about how hard he has been working. But Cole... Cole seemed to see his potential. He had spoken with the strange Chancellor about two weeks ago, and what the short man had spoken of for the future sounded very promising. _

_He stomped down the stairs of the tower, then something came to mind. The lower levels... if he could defeat the guardian of the towers lower levels, would the spirits not be impressed? Would they not see his true strength and reward him? _

_He quickly raced down the steps and then headed straight to the lower levels once reaching the main floor. _

_He easily cut through the creatures wondering before the guardians layer._

_He entered its room, then spoke into the darkness._

_"Guardian of the Tower of Spirits. Come forth and meet my challenge." He raised his gauntlet, (a gift from Cole), towards the creature as it rose._

_The guardian stood slowly before him. The creature had long sharp claws, a bony body with paper thin skin, with a billion yellow eyes watching him. It was very similar to what a dragon may look like. Spikes poured from it's spine, raised upward in defense, and it's long purple tongue whipped back and forth, greeting Byrnes challenge._

_The creature struck first, slashing it's enormous claws at him, Byrne easily jumped away. It struck again with it's tongue, Byrne dodged and shot out dark magic at its eyes, making it scream in pain, whipping it's head back and forth. He chuckled at how the so-called powerful guardian was already falling so easily to him._

_They continued fighting, it struck and slashed at Byrne with it's claws and teeth, while Byrne whipped his claw at it, dodged, then fired dark magic at it._

_Byrne laughed as the creature before was close to falling now. Its movement were slowing, and its body sagged. Blood painted its skin in long streaks. He raised his gauntlet, knowing that with one last spell, the grand guardian of the Tower of Spirits will fall before him and the Spirits would see that he deserved power._

_"BYNRE!" Yelled a familiar voice distracting him from finishing the guardian off._

_He whipped around to see Anjean roll into the room, looking horrified at what her student was doing._

_Byrne turned back to his opponent, but not quick enough. The great creature slashed it's claws at Byrne, cutting deeply along his face. He was flung across the room and blood started to rush from his cheek. He got up and was about to fire one last shot of dark magic at the guardian, which would have killed it for sure, had Anjean not have intercepted then._

_"Enough!" She yelled and forced Byrne back with her own magic, while keeping the guardian from tearing him to shreds._

_She forced the large creature back into its own private room while still holding Byrne at bay with her magic. Once finished she released him._

_"Byrne?! What is the meaning if this?" She looked furious and bewildered, and she sounded a little hurt. "How dare you come down her and challenge the guardian of the tower!" Byrne stood._

_"Why didn't you let me finish him off? I almost had him! Now I'll never get the power I deserve from the Spirits!" He yelled back as he walked towards her. _

_"You will never receive anything from them if you continue down this path!" _

_"No matter what I do, they never answer! I've worked so hard for over a century, and yet nothing!" They continued yelling back and forth, unable to find any reason from either side. Eventually Byrne stomped away, to his own room at the top of the tower, ignoring Anjean trying to reason with him._

_Later that night Byrne left. He gathered anything that may be of use to him and decided to join Cole, seeing how it would be the only way for him to gain power greater than the Spirits._

_He stopped a moment and stared at the mirror in front of him. The spot where the guardian and hit him left three deep red marks trailing from his cheek to his chin._

_'Weakness...' His mind echoed, fury and shame ran through him, making his hands shake. He smashed the mirror with his claw, shards flew everywhere on the floor around him. He wrapped a green scarf around his face to hide them, to hide his weakness, the shame that they symbolized. Not the shame of nearly killing the guardian, but the shame of not being strong enough to finish the job. He had kept it on ever since._

( End flash back, :P)

"I blamed Anjean, saying that she and the Spirits were only brining me down, that I would remain weak because of them. That these scars were from her getting in my way." Byrne explained. "So after, I started wearing this scarf to hide them, these reminders of weakness that are engraved into my skin." His eyes were filled with a deep hatred.

She thought about his story for a while, unsure how to respond.

"Do... You still blame them? Anjean and the spirits, I mean."

"Yes."

She paused a moment.

"Then you joined Cole?"

"He... Had told me of his plan before, and promised me great power in assisting him. Or, that Malladus would grant me the power I deserve. He gave me my gauntlet as a gift, making it easier to use my darker magic, and then, after that night, I left the tower and joined him." He became silent, lost in thought.

She counted to one hundred before she spoke up again.

"Can... I see them?"

"You... What? Why?"

"Well... I don't think you should hide them, you shouldn't be afraid of others seeing them. Plus you should eat, the soup isn't that bad..."

"... You do not understand."

"No, I do. I'm just not very good at explaining things..."

He thought for moment.

"I'm not afraid." He told her.

"Prove it." For once there was no humor or amusement in her eyes as she challenged him.

He stared at her, then let out a sigh.

"Fine." He spat. "If you are so curious to see what simple scars look like, then I will show you."

"But they're not that simple, are they? You would not feel the urge to wear something to cover them all the time if they were simple scars." She was rather proud of herself for pointing that out.

"Hm." He closed his eyes, and reached back to untie the scarf. He carefully unwrapped it from around his face.

Bit by bit he slowly unraveled the green cloth around his face, inching closer until she could see his nose, lips, and finally his chin. He had a sturdy nose, high cheek bones and a strong looking chin. He appeared to have a rather handsome face. She looked at his left cheek and saw three jagged white lines trailing past his cheek bone, to the corner of his lips, and then down to his chin.

His eyes were still closed, as if he did not want to see her expression upon seeing his scars. She slowly reached up and carefully started to trace over one of the scars with her fingers. His eyes flew open, when she touched his skin, and he grabbed her wrist in a flash, holding it away from his scars.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you." She told him. "Don't be afraid..." She added softly.

"I'm not." He told her, and released her wrist after a second. She reached up again and he clenched his jaw.

"Liar..." She mumbled and slowly brought her hand back to his cheek, tracing over the middle scar. Why she did such, she was not even sure herself. Perhaps... She just wanted to show him an act of kindness, or prove that they truly did not bother her. He closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath. "Do they hurt?" She asked, worried that she was causing him pain.

He shook his head.

"No... It is just, different." He told her. "I've... Never let anyone... see them before..."

"Not even Cole?" She wondered out loud.

"No. Not... Not like this..." He whispered.

She smiled. "He's never stroked your scars before? I'm surprised." He chuckled, then his expression became serious again.

She continued to trail her finger down his cheek, bringing it closer to his lips. He grabbed her wrist again, less forceful this time, and pulled it away from his scars.

"They... Do not bother you?" He asked opening his eyes to watch her expression.

"No. I... kind of like them, I find scars interesting, they tell stories and add character. You should not have to hide from them. Why bother trying to hide away your own skin?" She told him, no longer looking at his scars. Something strange passed over his eyes, but he looked away before she could decipher what it was.

"You... should get some rest." He told her, his eyes seeming distracted as they avoided her gaze.

"Well so should you. Even powerful Lokomo's need sleep." She told him.

He chuckled at that.

She scooted away to the edge of the bed and threw a pillow beside him. She leaned against the corner of the wall and propped a pillow up by her cheek. The silence of the house brought back peaceful memories of being a child, drawing crazy pictures of monsters and singing (loudly) in her room, while Steem played his lute, the noise echoing down the hall.

"How long did you live at the tower?" She asked Byrne, closing her eyes.

"My entire life." He told her. "How long have you lived here?"

"Hm, I came when I was five so... Twelve years..."

A pause.

"Did it bother you that your own parents abandoned you?" He finally asked.

The question took her off guard, and she opened her eyes, staring out the window at the frost that laced around it. The word 'abandonment' almost hurt, but it was still true.

"... It did, at first. I... Didn't really remember them well, and when I was six, Steem told me that they had died. A few years after he told me the truth. I... Couldn't understand why they left. Why they didn't want me..." She paused a moment. "I started to hate them. I became disgusted by the human part in me, knowing it was what tied me to them... Of course you already kind of heard that when I was ranting to you earlier... Anyways, it's not that I hate humans, I just hate being part human... I guess being part Lokomo allows me to pretend that I'm not apart of humanity, that I'm not connected to them... I don't know. It's a bit complicated." She gave a light, half hearted laugh. "What about you? Where are your parents?"

"I was told they had died when I was very young. So Anjean raised me. I left for a while. Then I returned again to train more to gain power."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She told him.

"Why?"

"Well... I feel bad that your parents died, that you do not remember them."

"Hm." He thought about what she said for a moment.

Her eyes started to become heavier, and she felt herself starting to slip into sleep.

"What is it like, living in the cold all the time?" He asked, causing her mind to jump slightly at the sound of his voice.

"Cold... But nice..." She mumbled. "Steem and I use to skate and throw snow... Then make hot soup..." She yawned. "And he taught me how to... Play the lute..." Her voice became more slurred together as exhaustion hit her. "Uh, I would sing and dance along while he played, but the lyrics made no sense..." She continued on about stories of her and Steem traveling around the Snow realm.

"You seem fond of your uncle." Byrne says, after she had finished with one of her stories about Steem and her throwing snow at Embrose while he was trying to play his drums in peace...

"Well... He's more like a father to me, he's my entire family actually." She yawned again. "Do you ever wish you knew your real parents?"

"As a child."

"Hmm, me too." She paused a second. "What about Anjean?... Were you fond of her?"

"I-" He struggled for the right words. "Yes... She was an excellent mentor, and... Very much like a... Mother, to me." She could sense an inner sadness about this subject for him, so she did not pry futher about it. So, instead, she decided to change the topic.

"So... You've been training for a hundred years?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Dude... You're old." She tried to hold back a laugh but failed miserable. She glanced over at him snickering.

He rolled his eyes while smirking. "Well them how old are you? Eight?"

"What? No! I'm not a child! In less then a year I'll be an adult." She told him while lifting up her chin up proudly. He shook his head, smirking.

They continued chatting for a while longer, Aife did not know if it was for a few minutes or a few hours. They asked questions, and spoke of training, annoying people, traveling, and the like.

She asked him how many stairs were in the tower, he chuckled at that and told she should try counting them next time she went there. He asked her about her training and what type of combat styles she was taught. She made a smart comment on how he was just jealous on how she was such an amazing warrior, but answered him anyways.

"Have you... Ever licked a lamppost in winter?" She asked him, her words starting to slur together.

"What? I... No... Have you?" He asked her, unsure if she was serious or not.

"Nope, but I hear you'll loose half your tongue in the process..." She smiled and heard him give a light chuckle before her mind started to shut down completely.

She liked him. Though he could be a huge jerk at times, he could be a really nice guy. Complicated, but sweet. She hoped that he would eventually see that gaining power was not everything... 'Maybe I could help?' But even that seemed far fetched. She sighed inwardly, 'Why am I falling for the guy who was almost ordered to kill me?' She wondered. 'Flirting with the enemy... Heh... Ugh... Mother blood...' Yes, she liked him, though she shouldn't. She wanted to bring back the part of him that he kept locked away, the side of him that wasn't power hungry and angry all the time, the side of him he had just shown... But she wasn't sure how.

Silence filled the room, and her mind eventually stopped rambling, as she fell asleep to the sound of the wind whistling outside her window and Byrne breathing evenly.

* * *

(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)

A/N: COOKIES! Alright! I'll give someone a virtual cookie if they tell me where the line 'Have you ever licked a lamppost in winter?' is from... ;) - (::) - That cookie right there! :D

Hmm, the whole scarf scene wasn't originally in this chapter, I only realized a while after that he couldn't eat with his scarf on... Unless... It's a magic scarf... :O (WANT!)

Re:

Ellietastic9929 ;) Thanks sweetie! ^^

(I will respond to guest users here and actually fanfic users through PM, or something like that... ;P)

Alright Byrnes POV is coming up in the next chapter! XD


	9. Chapter 9

CHApter 9 (nine) You know, the one after eight (8) and the one before ten (10)... Yeah, that one... It's also that number people use sometimes... You know... For things...

[[[[[[[[[[[[][[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[][[[[[[[[[[[[[[][[

Byrne watched the girls head drop to the side as she fell asleep, looking exhausted. While she slept, she appeared to look more relaxed, where as in the train her body seemed more tensed. Which made perfect sense, considering it was the Demon Train.

He knew it was strange of him to watch her while she slept, but... The girl confused him. She was fascinating, and annoying, but different from other girls he had seen before.

Aife... the name meant great women warrior... 'It suits her.' He thought. She fought bravely, even against that giant moth (which she obiviouly feared greatly), and she even had the guts to yell back at Cole. Whether that was brave or foolish, he could not say. She wasn't even afraid of him.

He removed the bowl of soup she brought him and placed it onto the floor. He had eaten most of it, but it was a rather filling soup.

When he looked back at her he noticed that her skin appeared to look cold, goose bumps grew on her neck, so carefully he grabbed the messed up blanket near her and gently placed it over top of her.

She stirred for a moment, then curled back up into a sort of ball shape with the blanket and let out a small sigh, making his heart pick up it's pace.

'What's wrong with you?' He yelled at himself mentally.

He moved away from her, trying not to disrupt her, and to stop himself from just staying there beside her... He sat against the wall again, thinking of what they spoke of.

He had practically told her everything, he had never spoken of his past to anyone. There had never been any reason for it. And yet... She did not react the way he thought she might, she seemed rather neutral about it. And then he showed her his scars... He remembered her finger gently tracing over them, as though she did not care a thing for what his appearance was. The simple action practically drove him mad, causing shivers to run along his skin. He had to remove her hand away before... Before he lost his self control completely.

No one had ever... Done that to him before. He had never felt this way around anyone, and what that feeling was was still unknown to him. A mixture of disgust and... He did not know what the other was, respect, maybe? But that did not seem to be the right word. He did not know, nor did he want to find out, or at least, he thought he didn't.

'Why must you do this to me?' He questioned mentally at sleeping girl. 'Why did you have to come along and change everything?' Cole wanted to have her dead after the resurrection of Malladus. But now Byrne was having second thoughts about that, to which he did not understand why.

'Cole will be angry. Focus on the plan, and then this will be over.'

He let out a sigh, and looked over to Aife. 'A strange girl indeed...' Her golden brown hair splayed out around her, a few strands covered her face, her long lashes brushed against her cheek bones, and her full lips were slightly parted... He felt his cheeks grow warm.

He quickly averted his eyes from her, and tried to focus on sleeping instead. 'She's a distraction. Do not focus on silly desires.' But he was unable to. His mind continued to go through the days events, and what she had told him about her past. 'Maybe... If she were to impress Malladus, he would be able to get rid of the human part inside her...' But he knew she would never allow that, despite how much she hated it.

She always seemed to take things so lightly... But, for whatever reason, snapped earlier that day. And he was able to see that deep down she truly did think hard on things. He felt terrible, seeing how she tried to hide the pain in her eyes, that he had brought, but again, he did not underhand why he felt that way. She had never really shown that side of her to him before, of course there would be no reason for it. But... He did want to get to know her, for the strangest reason he wanted to know even more about her past, of her personality, her fears, her hopes, just... Her. They had talked about themselves, for a very long time, but he still wanted to know more. He... Enjoyed it when she talked, or at least when it was about something somewhat serious, and it was nice for him to be able to talk as well.

She had not looked afraid upon seeing him for the first time, though he could have easily killed her then. Unlike that child, Princess Zelda, her expression was fierce, and her body remained calm... Or at least, for the most part it appeared that way. She fought back against him, although she was out matched and younger she still outlasted the other foolish man that had challenged him. From when she had first blocked his attack he realized that she wasn't entirely human. No human could hold back such force from his gauntlet, especially at her age.

He had carried both the girls back to the Demon Train, while Cole ranted on about foolish children, and what he was going to do with them...

He sighed and closed his eyes.

He let his head fall forward, trying to get some sleep and forget about what had happened. Or really, to forget about the mixed feelings he got from the strange girl he had to travel with. Though he would never show, at the moment, or speak of what he was feeling. Cole would consider him to be weak... No. Allowing himself to become too attached would be foolish. He shook the thoughts from his head, deciding that he could figure this out later.

He fell asleep to the sound of her breathing at a continuous pace, finding the sound relaxing in a way.

...  
A/N: Oh boy...

... Back 2 Aife! ...  
'Great Scott, Martie!' ('Back To The Future' quote...)

/...Dream time...\

_She watched as everything became surrounded in darkness. But she couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Couldn't breath... And panic filled her._

_She watched as everything crumbled before her. Some one screamed, and she searched around to find them, only realizing a second after that it was her who had screamed. She looked up and saw a dark ghastly shape, and near it was another... A person who appeared to be struggling from the dark beast in the sky, as though the creature was tearing him apart from the inside._

_She screamed out to the man in the air, and then..._

_The person vanished. Completely desinagrated from the monstorous beast thing. She felt tears roll down her cheeks, and she screamed at the creature. Outraged at what it had done to that poor person._

_She did not understand why it made her so upset, she did not know who that person was, or what was happening. But she felt empty, like that thing had not only destroyed that person, but a part of herself as well. _

_She felt soemthing grab her arms, and she screamed._

...\

Aife flew upwards and stared wildly as the room spun around her. She broaght her hand to her face and rubbed her eyes, noticing that her forehead and arms were covered in sweat.

'Ugh... Stupid dreams...' She frowned, she normally didn't have nightmares all the time, but they seem to be becoming more frequent. 'Fantabulous...'

She looked at the other side of her bed to see Byrne asleep, his head flopped foreword.

She smiled slightly at how much more relaxed he looked, his expression less serious, his shoulders less tense. She began to wonder if he use to be more relaxed like this before he met Cole. He looked a lot more innocent too...

She carefully got out of her bed, trying not to wake the boy asleep on it.

'Sharing a bed with a boy you've only just met, and who isn't really a boy, but rather, a young man, is the first thing you should not be doing in the house that your uncle lives in...' She held back a giggle.

She quickly got dressed, changing into another pair of grey tights, a black tunic, with a matching black belt, and a pair of hiking boots. She pulled her hair up into a messy bun, allowing stray hairs to fall around her face, swaying as she moved.

She moved back over to the sleeping boy in her bed, carefully positioning herself beside him so that he didn't wake. His long dark lashes popped out against his pale skin, and the two strands of loose hair fell in front of his face. His scarf was still pulled down around his neck, and his claw was removed and placed by the window.

She was tempted to try and wear his claw/gauntlet, but he would only yell at her. Another thought came to mind, 'Maybe... I could escape from them now? He's asleep and Cole isn't even close to here... But Steem...' No, she couldn't put him at risk. Even if she could escape with Steem and get away from them, she would still be putting him at risk. She shook the thought away.

She sighed and looked back to Byrne, who was now awake and watching her.

A wide grin spread across her face, to hide her embarrassment of staring at him.

"'Morning, sleeping beauty." She chirped and hopped off the bed.

He grumbled something as he got up.

"Hmm?" She asked.

"Did you get the maps?" He repeated.

She pursed her lips. "Nope. I'm going to go do that right now. Stay here... Or you could sneak into the wash room if you want, it's the room across from mine." She told him, he nodded, and she left.

She could hear a familiar lute playing down the hall. She wondered down and into the sparing room to see Steem playing his lute to himself. She knew this tune, she had heard it many times before as a child. Supposedly it was a very ancient tune, and meant for two people to play different parts, to which it could restore the Spirit Tracks if played properly. 'The song of the Lokomos?' She couldn't remember the real name...

As a child, she would dance around the room to it, her long dirty blonde flying everywhere, singing in gibberish, while Steem played his lute humming along to her crazy lyrics.

She couldn't help but smile at the fond memory.

"Morning, Steem." She walked up beside him.

"Hello, Aife, wow... you're up early!" He noted. She normally slept in very late, and then he would come in and throw snow at her until she woke up...

"Well, I couldn't go back to sleep..." She started.

"Ah. Yes yes, I know. You need those maps and then you have to go off on some crazy adventure, right?" He smiled up at her.

"Heh, yeah..." (^_^') 'You left out the part about being forced to help some evil guys revive the Demon King... But that's not important...' "I'm sorry to run off so quickly like this, but I will come back as soon as I'm done and explain everything." She told him.

He nodded and handed her a light brown rolled up cloth.

"This should help you sneak through the storm... Just be careful, alright dear?"

She smiled at him and nodded.

"Of course, uncle. I'll come back and see you soon." She gave him a quick hug and he whispered I love you as she pulled away. "Love ya too. Oh, and please tell Alfonzo that I'm safe." He smiled warmly up at her and she turned and left, heading back down the hall and into her own room. She felt tears pricking at her eyes, and she felt a sudden sadness that she couldn't stay here with him.

'When this is over... Then I can.' She reminded herself.

She looked around in her room, Byrne wasn't in there. 'Must be in the washroom...' She saw he had left his scarf on her bed, and she smiled wickedly.

She snatched it from her bed and twisted it around her face, mimicking him. It smelt like him too... She pulled one of the edges up over her nose, and looked at the small mirror on her wall. She twisted her loose strands of hair, that covered her face, into two strands that fell across her vision.

She looked fairly similar to him, except one thing was missing.

'I can't forget to glare at everything.' She glared into the mirror, 'Perfect! Now I look just like him!' She giggled and turned as she heard the door opening.

She saw Byrne walk in, and he stopped when he saw her.

She couldn't help the smirk that creeped up into her expression. His dark hair was soaking wet and reached down to his shoulders without his ponytail holder in place. His bare chest had a few droplets of water on it, running down the bumps of muscle. But he still had his pants on... 'Awe.' She made a dramatic gasping noise and turned her head while covering her eyes.

"A naked man in my room?! Oh, what is the world coming to?" She snuck a peek at him through parted fingers and he raised an eyebrow at her dramatic tone.

He moved past her and grabbed his shirt, pulling it over his finely carved chest muscles... She held back a giggle and turned to him.

"Guess who I am!" She told him while trying very hard to keep glaring at him.

He rolled his eyes, trying hard to hold back a smile, and reached out his hand towards her.

She sighed and removed the green scarf from around her face. "I was you." She told him, "You know, looking angry and having my hair up..."

"I do not have breasts." He told her in a very matter-of-fact voice. Her face grew warm.

She bit her lip to hold back a burst of laughter, her eyes automatically glanced down at her chest. Then she quickly grabbed a nearby pillow and threw it at him.

He chuckled as it brushed past his arm.

She pursed her lips and started to pack up her bag with things she may need. Trying to ignore his comment and to stop herself from measuring her chest, 'They're not that noticeable... I think...' Who was she kidding. She had them, and making them unnoticeable would prove to be difficult.

"What? No witty come back? No smart remark?" He questioned.

"You sound disappointed." She noted.

He chuckled again. "Perhaps I am."

"Well, maybe, I don't want to talk about my 'breasts' with someone who is practically like a stranger to me." She told him, while shoving some gloves into her bag. "And, who was half naked just a second ago." She added.

"Did that... Bother you?" He asked right beside her ear in a dark voice with a hint of amusement. She hadn't heard him approach, and felt her body tense from how close he was. Her cheeks grew warm again from his warm breath brushing along her cheek, he must have noticed that, and chuckled as he moved away.

"You... Seem to be in a different mood." She told him. 'Does he seem... Happy? Byrne? Noo...'

"Hmm." Was all he said.

She snuck a peek at him to see him pulling his hair up, she also noticed that the red eyeliner he had was still on.

She walked right up to him, and moved onto her tiptoes to get a closer look at the red. He seemed surprised at the act, though he did not move away.

She carefully poked the red underlining his eyes.

"How do you get that to stay on all the time?" She asked.

He seemed surprised at her boldness for getting so close then moved away and rolled his eyes.

"Magic." He told her in a tone that said 'why does this matter?'.

'There's the real Byrne!'

She moved away and sighed, grabbing her favorite tunic, and threw her bag over her shoulder. She turned back to him.

"Alright, are you ready?" She asked.

He nodded, wrapping his scarf around his face, his ponytail already in place, and he moved to grab his gauntlet.

"You have the maps?" He asked putting his gauntlet over his left hand, she nodded.

"Alright, you can climb out the window and I'll leave through the main doors." She told him.

He paused a moment before answering. "Fine." He opened her window and jumped out. She closed it and whispered a final goodbye to her room, not knowing it would be the last time she would see it for a very long time.

She walked back down the hall, and turned to her left to exit out of the main doors. She carefully closed the doors, and stepped out onto the white ground.

Her breath was visible, floating above her head as she walked away from her home.

Pieces of white grazed past her cheek and melted once hitting her skin. She sighed and started walking quicker to where the train should have been. She opened up her satchel and grabbed her gloves, pulling them over hands against the frozen air. She realized something then, 'Byrne... Knows a lot about me now...' She almost felt exposed in a way, unsure if she was comfortable knowing that he knew so much about her past. 'But he did tell me just as much about himself...' She felt sad that he couldn't see past his want for power, and see the truth of what was happening. 'Maybe, I could change his view... And stop Malladus from being resurrected...' But she knew that doing that would be a slim chance.

She pushed away some hair that fell in front of her eyes to see Byrne materialize beside her.

She jumped at his sudden appearance. He looked at her for a moment, but she refused to meet his gaze.

They didn't speak as they moved towards the train, instead they listened to the sound of the wind gently brushing past the surrounding trees, and the cracking of ice and snow beneath their feet.

Upon seeing the train, Byrne moved ahead of her and shot blue energy from his claw, opening the door. He hopped inside, using the bar to pull himself up and she too grabbed onto the handle to lift herself up. He reached down his hand towards he and she took it, as he hoisted her up into the train.

Once inside the train, she moved around him to avoid any unnecessary closeness. He closed the door, and gestured for her to go down the hall and into the guest booth.

She turned to leave.

"I need those maps." He told her. She closed her eyes for a second before grabbing them from her bag and turning to hand them to him. He gave her a simple nod, then entered the control room, closing the door behind him.

As she walked down the hall, the train lurched forward, causing her to loose her footing and fall against the wall. She frowned, then decided to turn back.

She walked up to the control room door then opened it. She peered inside to see Byrne busily reading over the maps while moving some sort of joint stick. She walked in and closed the door.

"You should not be here." He told her, not glancing back.

'So much for sneaking...'

"Well I'm bored, and that room you keep locking me up in is very cold." 'Well it is...'

He said nothing.

"So... Are we getting close to the temple?" She asked, trying to loose the tension.

He ignored her.

"Alright... Well are we at least close to the storm?" She looked out of the windows in front of her to see grey clouds and snow blowing across the window. He continued to ignore her questioning.

She pouted and sat up on one of the metal ledges. A thought came to mind and she smiled.

"Sooo, is it safe to say that we've slept together?" She asked sweetly with a wicked grin on her face. She didn't really care about what she said, nor did she really mean it, she only wanted to get his attention.

He turned to her with a 'what the hell is wrong with you' expression. But she smiled inwardly at how his cheeks looked flushed.

"Don't look at me like that, you would have continued to ignore me had I had not brought up something like that." She shrugged.

He sighed. "Fine, no, yes, no. There, I've answered all your questions. Now will you please go back to where I told you to go." He added a little extra to the 'please'.

She smiled and shook her head.  
"Why? Do you not enjoy my company?" She asked with a fake sweet tone.

He sighed angrily. "You are distracting. Now leave." He told her.

"Hmm, you... Find me distracting, huh?" She continued to smile wickedly as he turned to hide his red cheeks. "In what way?" She questioned as she started to swing her legs back and forth.

He growled to himself then muttered a curse under his breath.

He began to scribble out a path onto his map from Steems, and moved the steering stick in similar motions to the lines he drew.

She watched him as he stared intently at the map, then back up to the windows. The train started to rattle, the clouds outside turned into a darker grey, and snow started to pile near the glass. She saw his shoulders became more tense with every careful turn he made. The air started to become more cold, and the wind outside screamed at them.

She decided that trying to tease him futher would be a very stupid idea at the moment, seeing how tense he was. So she remained quiet, observing everything that was happening.

After a few minutes of only hearing the sound of the storm outside, Byrne let out a sigh of relief. She looked up and saw the Snow Temple.

On sunny days the frozen temple would sparkle from the light, a light mist covering it's base and a blueish hue would surround it. Its blue roof with ivory walls made it look majestic, and the stained glass windows would make beautiful shadows inside.

Now the enormous pieces of jagged ice coming out of the temple looked dangerous and deadly, a cold grey shaded the entire temple from the storm. Dark clouds lingered above it and a deep fog surrounded the bottom, making it look very unwelcoming.

Byrne lowered the train, and she gripped the sides of the ledge she was sitting on to stop herself from sliding off. 'This train really needs to get seat belts...' She imagined Cole wearing a seat belt and tried to hold back a snicker at the strange image.

Once they had stopped moving, and were finally on the ground, Byrne turned to her. "Let's find that tear, then leave."

She nodded then remembered something.

"I need my sword... You know, in case any more wolves come up. I don't know how you survived without me last time." She muttered the last part to herself and received a snort from him.

He opened up one of the lower draws and pulled out her old sword. He shoved it at her and she took it, muttering a quick thanks.

He opened the door going outside and gestured her to jump first.

"Ladies first." He told her in a way that almost sounded a bit like sarcasm.

She squinted her eyes at him, then jumped out of the train, landing in a wobbly crouch. Her feet stung for a second, but she easily shook it off. Byrne came out next, closing the door as he jumped.

He landed a lot more gracefully, slowly raising from his crouch, and giving her a confused look at her expression.

"Show off." She muttered and started towards the temple.

She could practically hear him roll his eyes. The cold wind blew past her neck, making her shiver.  
She wished that she had a scarf like Byrnes to block out all of the cold air.

They hurried inside and away from the freezing air outside. The entrance to the temple was similar to the Forest Temple, only this one had blue colors everywhere, instead of green, and diamond shapes outlined and decorated the walls, similar to her own room.

She pulled out the temples map and started to look for which doors would help them find the lower levels.

As soon as they entered the real part of the temple Aife gasped.

There was a huge path of ice in front of her.

"Byrne!" He looked over at her. "Run across that ice!" She commanded.

He gave her a WTF face.

"Please! It'll be really cool!" She urged him.

"No. We did not come here to fool around on the ice." He told her plainly as he moved foreword.

She snickered.

"Mmm, that sounds dirty..." She told him, smiling darkly.

"How could that possible be dir-" He was cut off upon seeing her evil grin and blood creeped up to his cheeks realizing what she meant.

Her smile grew, and he turned away from her, looking flustered.

"Are you thinking dirty thoughts, Byrne?" She asked in a suggestive tone.

"No." He said, not looking at her as she walked up beside him.

"Well now you are." She said, moving to catch up with his walk, while making him blush even more. "Who are you thinking dirty about? Hmm?" She giggled. "Oh come on! Who is it? Some secret lover you keep locked up in your tower?" She thought a moment, "Actually... That's kind of hot..." She muttered.

He whipped towards her and pointed one of his clawed fingers at her. She only giggled.

"You-! Just- ugh, just stop talking!" He finally got out and stomped ahead of her. "Where is the tear located?" He asked angrily.

She smiled and looked down at the map she had.

"We... Need to get to this door... Which is straight ahead," She pointed at the one that appeared to be the closest to them. "Then... Up those stairs and into this area... Then we should be able to find the lower levels..." She move her finger across to the left. He glanced back then nodded and led the way.

She trailed behind, admiring their surroundings. Pools of ice blue water lay beside them, paths of ice in front, and a light mist covered the floor. The coldness did not bother her much. She found a bit comforting, it reminded her of her home and the childhood memories that came along with it.

When they walked into the entrance of the room before the stairs leading up to the second floor, a strange creature approached them.

It had one large red eye, surrounded by a roundish body made of ice, with large ice shards covering it's back. It slowly approached Byrne.

He automatically swooped his claw at it, causing it to fly away to hit the wall. Only instead of breaking, it bounced off and flew against the opposite wall. It continued to bang around in the room.

It hit Byrnes foot, causing him to snarl and hit it again. It bounced away quicker this time and started to go back and forth in the small room at a much faster rate. It hit Byrne again while passing by.

"Having trouble?" She asked, slightly amused at how he was becoming so furious with a simple ice creature.

Byrne growled and shot dark electricity at it, causing it to explode near the wall leaving only the slightest bit of black ash along the floor and wall.

He turned back at her and gave her a warning glare. She raised her hands in defense, stating that she didn't mean anything by it. Whether he believed her or not he turned away anyways and started up the stairs.

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

A/N: (sing-song voice) Pervert!... Byrne's a pervert!

(He was probably thinking dirty about Aife!) X3 •O•

Do these chapters seem too long? Short? Idk, what do you guys think? Reviews, comments, suggestions are welcome! § §

Thank you for reading.  
-TheMidnightWhisp

To be continued...  
See ya people! *waves*


	10. Chapter 10

Ch. 10:

_"You told me think about it, well I did. _  
_Now I don't want to feel a thing anymore... _  
_I'm tired of begging for the things that I WANT! I'm over sleeping like a dog on the floor. _  
_Imagine living like a king some day, a single night without a ghost in the walls. _  
_We are the shadows screaming TAKE US NOW! _  
_We'd rather die then live to rest on the GROUND!"_

- Pierce the Veil - "King for a day"

* * *

While going farther up the temple the air around them started to become more frigid. They arrived in a strange room, there was a fire lighted on one post and, what appeared to be, a frozen ice like flame flickering beside it.

Aife walked up to the two flames, frowning. There were other posts surrounding them obviously meant to be lit in a certain way but they did not know which ones needed to be fire or ice.

Byrne stopped and looked at the many posts in front of them, then back to Aife.  
"Are these important to us?" He asked.

"I... Don't think so... They might help us find the door to the secret levels of the temple but, other than that, I don't know." She told him.

She began to inspect each post, trying to figure out what the hell to do with them.

One of them looked as though it had some sort of writing on the edge of it.

"Hey, Byrne, can you read this?" She asked, he came over and squinted at the post.

"Read what?" He asked, trying to figure out what she was talking about.

"This writing here." She squinted at the writing as well.

"That isn't going to hel-." Byrne started but the floor beneath then disappeared as Aife poked the strange letters on the post, which made the floor beneath them disappear.

She yelled a curse as they both fell. Well, she yelled a few curses actually. They fell against something hard and cold and began to slid downwards.

The ice they were sliding on was very steep, making them slid even faster down the strange pass way. Aife screamed and after a few minutes of trying to grab onto something to stop their fall, after a while they finally slid onto level ground. They skidded forward until their feet bumped into a wall, finally stoping their movement.

Aife blinked a few times before glanced over at Byrne, who did not look very impressed.

"Stop. Poking. Strange. Objects." He told her through clenched teeth. "Every time you poke things, something bad happens!" He stood up, and almost slipped from the ice they were on.

She also got up and pressed her hands against the wall for support.

"Admit it, that was pretty cool." She told him as she looked around the strange room.

He snorted. "Says the one who was screaming and swearing the entire way down."

She turned to him. "I was just... Surprised. That's all. Now let's try and figure out where we are, alright?"

The room they were in was made completely out of ice and snow. Except for a few of the walls, which appeared to be made of jagged stones. The room was lit by frozen flames, flickering a strange light blue around the room.

She noticed a doorway to her right, and was about to point it out when a gate snapped closed in front of it.

"Oh, lovely..." She muttered.

Through the pile of snow came a few of the creatures that they had encountered earlier. They moved towards them slowly, their red eyes watching them intently.

"Hey, Byrne... Your favorite monsters have come back to play with you..." She teased, seeing how the last one had made him furious, he started towards one of them. "So, um, don't hit them like a psycho or else they'll fly around and kill us in a second." She added lightly.

"Then how are we suppose to kill them?" He asked angrily.

She shrugged "I dunno... Maybe you could ask them to leave peacefully?"

He snorted. "Yes because brainless monsters will just walk away if we asked nicely. They're nothing but stupid beasts that need to die." He told her.

She gasped dramatically. "Don't say that! It's okay ice creature thing, he didn't mean it." She told the slow ice thing that approached her. "You're not dumb..." She pulled her sword out, and moved backwards from the ice creatures. "You're just really slow..."

There were probably about seven of them cornering Aife and Byrne. Aife knew that if they hit one, it would bump into the others and make them all fly about the room. Even a single shot from Byrnes claw would cause chaos.

"Byrne, I'm going to hold them all in place, and when I do that, fire your own magic at them."

He nodded and Aife got to work.

She tried to picture invisible hands grabbing them all and holding them in place, stopping their movements, or a wall blocking them. She felt something warm course through her veins and sure enough, after a moment, they stopped moving. Aife concentrated at keeping them at bay with her invisible wall but it felt as through something was putting pressure on her own body as she continued to hold them back.

"Now!" She commanded Byrne.

His claw started to build up a dark blue orb like shape and he slashed it towards the creatures, hitting three directly in the eye, making them explode into tiny shards of ice.

Aife felt the pressure of that hit on her own magic holding the creatures back. She gasped and grunted, and for that split second, when she wasn't paying attention, the other four flew away from the force of Byrnes magic and from Aifes force field bursting from lack of concentration.

The force of the two spells shot Aife and Byrne against the wall, also causing the ice creatures to explode sharp shards of jagged ice towards them. Aife felt them make tiny cuts along her arms and legs and something burned passed her hip, she looked down to see her tunic was ripped open and a streak of red ran along her right hip.

Once the creatures finished exploding ice shards at them, the door to the next room re-opened.

Aife hissed. "Dammit." She carefully pulled up her tunic to get a better view of the cut, she carefully applied pressure from her hand on it. She bit her lip to keep from cursing.

It wasn't that it was very deep, or hurt a lot, it was just a wide cut that kind of burned.

Byrne moved toward her, cuts along his arms and legs as well. He bent down and reached to move her hand away.

"Don't touch it." She told him.

"Don't be such a child and let me see." He told her and moved her hand away from her hip. His fingers grazed over the wound and she hissed again.

"It's fine, I'll just wrap it up, then we can continue. My magic will heal it after that." She told him as he carefully examined it.

He nodded and moved away.

She ripped the bottom part of her tunic, that had gone down to her mid thigh, and wrapped it around her hips like a belt, she tied it up then looked back to Byrne.

She sighed. "Damn... And I liked this tunic too, now it's just a shirt... Oh well... Let's keep moving, shall we?" She started towards the door, while trying to ignore the burning she felt from her hip, and he followed behind.

As they walked down the twisted ice hallways, the bleeding stopped and she could slowly feel her wound being knitted back together by her magic.

The halls they went down were cold, even breathing to quickly made it feel like her lungs were frozen. They cautiously walked over the ice floor, being careful not to slip.

"Where are we?" Byrne asked.

She pulled out her map.

"Well we obviously made it to the lower levels, um, now we need to find the tear... Which should be on the floor below us."

"And how are we suppose to get there?"

'Walk down some stairs...' She thought, in a deep mumbled man voice/tone.

"Well we need to find some stairs that will lead us down. Or we could break this ice and jump." She told him.

He said nothing and they continued walking, and found a strange looking monster.

It looked similar to the red bobble headed ones from the Forest Temple, but now it looked like it was covered in ice, a light mist coming off its frozen body.

Aife walked up to it and whipped her sword out at it, but instead of shattering, like she thought it would, her sword became covered with ice.

She let out a yelp of surprise and yelled at the creature.

"Ugh! Bastard!" She swung again, but now her sword was covered with an even bigger chunk of ice.

She felt her eye twitch as she heard Byrne chuckle behind her.

"Having trouble?" He asked, mocking her.

She turned to him and glared, then swung her ice sword at the creature with all of her strength, and it smashed against the wall into shards of ice.

"You were saying?" She asked and smirked, as she turned to him, he only snorted. "Hey, at least I didn't get angry and have a tantrum by making it explode with dark magic." She told him and they continued down the icy hall.

"Oh really? So swearing at it wasn't from anger? Hm." She rolled her eyes and muttered something about him being a smart ass as they continued walking.

They found a some more ice creatures, a few bats, bobble headed things, and then some more 'friendly' wolves that were easily disposed of.

Eventually the came across a room with no other doors. Instead it had a wooden post in the center of it, with a bright orange flame flickering on it. They walked in and Aife frowned.

She sighed. "It's a dead end, let's turn back and see what we missed." She huffed, and as they turned around the door they had come from snapped shut with a large stone slate falling downward in front of it. "... You'd think that by now we'd learn to not walk into suspicious looking rooms..." She pulled her sword out, preparing herself for a fight.

"Hm." Byrne walked ahead of her.

She walked up to the fire.  
"How much do you wanna bet that if I poke this, monsters will come out and try to kill us?" She smiled and turned to him.

He shook his head.

She placed her sword over the flame, causing it to become covered in fire, instead of the flame heating it up.

"Wicked..." She pulled her sword out of the fire, and the flames continued to stay on it.

She heard a clanging noise, and saw Byrne already fighting some of the approaching creatures. She saw their 'favorite' ice monster that slowly moved towards Aife. She whipped her fire sword at it, making the ice around its body to melt on contact, revealing a weird creature with a long snout. The long nosed creature shot out a small boulder at Aife, and she blocked it with her sword.

She advanced towards it, then brought her sword down on the creature, making it turn into purple/black smoke.

"Cool..." She turned and advanced at the other creatures that were moving towards Byrne.

Aife melted all the slow moving ice monsters, then killed them easily, while Byrne got rid of the bobble headed creatures.

As soon as the smaller monsters were cleared away, the door remained shut. She walked up to it.

"Um, shouldn't it open now? We did kill off the monsters." She turned back to Byrne who was staring intently at the white twister that appeared in one of the corners of the room.

The twister turned slightly black and then grey when out of it came a large wolf, who was standing on its hind legs. The wolf had blood red eyes, black fur, and was snarling angrily at them.

Aife raised an eyebrow at it, then charged towards it, holding her sword back to swing at it once she got within range. When she was close enough she slashed her blade, hoping to cut his side, but alas, she had no such luck.

The wolf whipped out its sharp claw, stopping her sword from tearing into its side. She yanked her sword away, and tried to hit it again, it blocked it, whipping out it's other claw to catch her sword.

"Ugh, bloody bugger!" She yelled at it as she continued to try an break through its defense. "A little help would be nice here!" She called back to Byrne.

"I'm a little preoccupied now!" He called back, she turned and saw Byrne slashing his claw at a white wolf, who also stood on its hind legs.

She jumped away from the wolf as it moved towards her. She quickly turned and thrusted her sword into the flame, causing it to become engulfed in fire.

She whipped around to face her opponent, the same time he slashed his claws at her side, making her cry out. She brought her flaming sword down at the wolf, and as it reached her sword to block, it shrieked at the fire that burned its paws.

While it howled in pain of the burns, she did not hesitate to slice open it's center. Making black fog pour out of it. It snarled at her and swiped its claw at her. Cutting her along her throat. Her hand flew up to her neck, abd she gasped, but not from any sudden pain, just from the shock of it.

She swung her blade with all of her strength, bashing it into the wolfs side, and cutting through half of it while causing it to hit the wall.

It howled as it withered into black smoke. She turned to see Byrne finishing off the other one.

Her hand flew up to her neck, it felt sticky, and when she pulled her hand away red stained her palm. She swallowed hard, unsure why it wasn't painful, 'It will probably start to burn soon...' She accidentally poked it in a more sensitive area, causing a sharp jabbing pain to run up her neck. 'There it is...'

The cut was deep enough that she would deffinetly be getting a scar there, but not wide enough for it to be an extremely large scar. She removed her bloodied glove and held it over her wounded neck.

The door re-opened, the block moving back upwards, and a set off stairs appeared in front of the fire post, descending into darkness once Byrne finally killed the last of the wolves.

Byrne had started moving towards the new set of stairs when he saw Aife clutching her neck. She could see that he had a few cuts here and there, but nothing his magic couldn't heal.

He moved quickly towards her in a second and grabbed her wrist that was up against her bleeding neck. His movements were to quick for her to move away from him, though she did flinch at his touch. His eyes were intense, and guarded, so she could not decipher what he was thinking about.

He gently pulled her hand away from her neck, and examined the wound. His thumb gingerly traced over it, rubbing away some blood while causing shivers to run along her skin. 'Stop that!' She yelled at herself. Though his hands were rough from years of training, they were careful and gentle, while holding her wrist and examining her wound.

She took a quick intake of breath, at the sting of the wound and at how close he was. Her hearts beat picked up speed.

"You know I'm not going to bleed to death from this." She told him, only being half sarcastic. 'Well unless it hit that vein...' But even so, her magic would be able to heal that too, and it would have hurt a lot more had it had been deeper. Though it was starting to burn more.

His eyes flickered to her own then back down, he let go of her wrist.

"You should be more careful." He told her in a soft voice, as he moved away.

She wasn't sure what to say to that so she bit her lip and nodded. He turned away to hide his expression and they both walked down the new stair case.

...

The stairs were not covered in thick ice (thank goddess) but instead, a light mist hung around their feet as they walked down the steps.

Aife felt the sudden change in the coolness of the air, instead of it being familiar and comforting, it seemed as though it was becoming darker, and more frigid with every step.

Her neck had stopped bleeding, and she smudged away some of the crusted blood, as her magic tried to heal the majority of her wound.

"Don't pick at your wound. You'll make it worse." Byrne told her, not even glancing back at her.

"I wasn't!" She told him in a defensive tone. "And it's almost finished healing for your information."

He rolled his eyes. "Are we close to the tear?"

She pulled out her maps and searched for where they were, when she found the stairs they were on, her eyes moved to the right of the map, remembering where Steem had told her, years before, where the tear was.

"Yep, it'll be on our next right." She told him, he nodded in response.

She began to think, or rather, over think about what they were doing again. Malladus would destroy this world, and everyone in it. Whether they helped resurrect him or not, even Cole might not survive... The thoughts of that troubled her, not the thought of Cole being destroyed but of everything and everyone she's ever known would be gone. The thought saddened her. She then remembered a verse she had heard in a song once. She had to ask Steem to translate for her.

"Omne reme a di re na." She muttered.

Byrne turned to her, his eyes seemed confused. "What?"

She repeated it.

"It means, 'In the end, you return to the gods as nothing.'" She told him, looking deeply into his intense golden eyes.

She saw something flash across them but it was gone as he frowned at that.

"Not unless you are more powerful then they are." He half whispered, looking away from her.

She shook her head.

"Not even then."

He began to glare into the empty space.

"Let's move on." He half growled and stomped down the stairs.

She hadn't meant to make him angry, she only wanted to tell him that, no matter what he did he would never gain power over the Goddess and The Spirits. But in a nicer way, or at least, nicer than that.

She sighed and continued down the spiral stair case.

(A/N:... Byrnes POV... (oh no!))

'Omne reme a di re na...' Those words echoed in his mind, taunting him.

His hands began to shake in anger, 'How- Ugh! She doesn't understand a thing about power! She has no idea how hard I have worked for all this to turn out perfectly...' He knew he shouldn't let her words effect him like that but something about them stung, and he couldn't stop thinking about them.

'In the end, we return to the gods as nothing...' Doubt began to swirl inside his mind, thoughts of what if their entire plan does not work out, or what if he is not strong enough to gain power from Malladus?... 'No. I will not let my mind be twisted by a girl, and a half human at that!' But even so, he could not help the thoughts of doubt that whispered in his mind.

He tried to force them out, to try and focus on the task at hand but... Her words would not stop haunting his mind.

'Stop it! This doubt is a sign of weakness... She is only trying to bring me down, to distract me from my goal! I've been working for this for over a century, I will not allow it to be washed away from a single girl, one, who I have only known for little over a week!' The thoughts continued to make his blood boil in rage.

He was angry because for the first time in over a century, the thought occurred to him that, what if everything he has ever believed and worked for... Was for nothing? All of it, gone to waste. 'No! I will not allow that to be true! I will not allow it to make me weak...'

They reached the bottom of the stairs and turned through the doorway on their right. They continued down the hallway, no longer having to walk over an ice covered floor.

He saw a large black wolf make it's way towards them. Byrne slashed his claw at mercilessly and the thing hit the wall, letting out a yelp.

Before it could move again and attack, he was on it in a second, whipping his claw back and forth on it, even when it was finally dead, he continued to fight it. Releasing his anger through force. He thought he heard someone yelling but his mind could not process what, all his attention was focused on the dead wolf in front of him.

"Byrne!" He heard a girls voice scream at him, though he did not stop until something grabbed his arm.

He whipped his body towards where the person that had touched him, raising his gauntlet towards them, it hit something metal with a loud crash, waking him up from his blind rage.

He saw Aife in front of him with her sword pressed against his claw, body positioned to defend herself if he were to continue his attack. Her eyes looked wide and almost fearful, but there was a hardness to them that made her look fierce as well. For some reason all he could see were the cuts on her. A large gash along her hip, a few trailing down her neck, one on her side, while many small ones covered her arm, and something about the sight of her wounds made something in him angry at those who had hurt her. Which he had almost done as well.

Shame started to flood through him. 'Say something! Anything!' His mind commanded.

But he could only stare wildly back, thinking of how he had almost hit her. He felt the anger, that had burned through his blood like fire, turn into ice cold shame.

"Byrne?..." She slowly lowered her sword, showing that she was no threat but she still held it firmly in her hand, incase he were to try and attack her again. Her voice seemed so calm, and he started to hate himself for being so careless with his anger.

He lowered his gauntlet as well, and swallowed hard.

"I-..." He started.

"I know." She interrupted him, her eyes looked sad, and she looked away. "Let's just... Move on." Her voice turned cold, and she moved past him, down the hall. 'No! Let me apologize, let me...' He saw that her knuckles around her sword were turning white from her hardening grip.

He closed his eye hard. 'Fool.' He thought, he let his anger get the best of him, and had almost hurt her.

He punched the wall in front of him before following Aife.

... Aife POV...  
A/N: ... (-_-)

She knew it was her own fault that she was almost attacked by Byrne. She shouldn't have angered him, 'But... He needs to understand, what he's doing is completely wrong... Ugh...' She knew she would never be able to convince him. So she decided to never bring such subjects up again.

She knew that what he was going through was difficult, she knew that he had worked hard to gain power, and every time he tried, he gained nothing. Then to have someone point out that no matter what you do in your currant life for power, in the end it will mean nothing, did not help at all.

She let out a shaky breath, and stretched her fingers out and back in to allow blood to flow through them.

She heard something hit the wall behind her, making jump slightly, and footsteps trailed behind her.

She pointed up to the large doorway ahead.

"That's where the tear will be, and some sort of guardian. So be ready." She told him.

"Aife..." His voice was a bit strained. She turned to smile at him, and something like a flash of pain flickered over his eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it'll just be a giant one of those frozen red eyed creature things, your favorite." She told him pleasantly, she turned away so that she didn't see his hurt expression, and so he didn't see hers.

"That's not what I meant." He told her firmly as they entered the new room.

The room was enormous, like a giant ice dome, covered in diamond patterns and stained glass decorated the walls. Large shards of ice hung on the roof. Wooden stands held up orange and blue flames that danced on their posts. There was an enormous silver spiral going along the ice covered floor, and in the center of it laid another pedestal. On top of the pedestal was the tear, a dark silver aura surrounding the black floating orb.

She frowned at it the empty room.

"This doesn't make sense, it should be guarded... Why is it out in the open? Why aren't there any guardians here?..." The question was more to herself than anyone.

"Because they all died." Answered a cold female voice.

Aife and Byrne turned to see a... Well it looked like a snow man, rising from the icy floor.

The snow man thing had beady black eyes, a white mouth that grinned at them, exposing a million tiny jagged teeth. Its body was an oval like shape, looking like it was made of snow. And its head also looked like a snowball.

Aife gave it a strange look, then walked past it towards the tear.

Ice bars snapped closed around the tear, blocking it from Aife, she turned to glare at the creature that let out a high pitched giggle.

"How rude! You don't even tell me your name, and are already trying to steal what does not belong to you! Perhaps your friend here is more polite... Tell me, Lokomo, what is your name." The snow creature (who seemed very feminine) looked towards Byrne with amused eyes.

"Byrne." He replied with zero interest, as though this was all boring to him.

"Mmm, from the brook..." She murmured. "I am the ice queen, but you can call me Maura." It made sure to add a little extra to the 'you' when she spoke to Byrne.

Aife snorted.

"Holy hell, ice queen? Really?" She rolled her eyes at the demon. "You people really need to think of better names for yourselves, Demon." She spat the last part.

The demon looked over at Aife, its eyes black pits of amusement. Anjean had taught her about how to tell the difference between spirits and demons, at least now it wouldn't go to waste. 'Why the hell is a demon guarding the tear?'

"You are a very rude human." Aife muttered something about being half human. "Oh? Is that so... Hmm, well then, child of two worlds, what is it that you seek?"

'Child?' The demon was starting to piss Aife off.

"You know damn well what I'm here for." She growled.

The demon laughed again and spun in a lazy, slow circle.

"Hmmm, I'm not sure I do... Please elaborate on that." The demon cooed, taunting her.

Aife muttered a curse before pulling out her sword, Byrne let out a sigh.

"This has gone on long enough." He snapped.

They took a step towards the snow demon just as it giggled and started to spin again.

Aide was about to slice open it's side when shards of ice shot out from the demons body. Aife eyes widened as she dove to the side, avoiding the shards from ripping her apart.

Byrne created a purple energy shield, blocking the ice shards.

'He can make shields? With his magic? ... Then why the hell haven't we used that before?!' She rolled up from off the floor, popping up near the snow demon, to smack her sword into its side.

It let out a screech, then spun around a few times before disappearing, replaced by a few wolves.

Aide charged towards them, swinging sword back and forth, she heard Byrne give out a loud yell before cutting open one of the other wolves. Aide ducked under one, that had originally planned on diving at her throat, and thrusted her sword up and into its underbelly. It squealed then disappeared.

Another one launched itself at her, she swung around on her heel, bending her knees to get lower to its level, and she hit its side.

After the wolves were disposed of, the ice demon returned, twirling around them while laughing.

Byrne shot dark magic at it, it growled and gave him a death glare as the magic teared through its body. Aife launched herself at it, only to be blocked by another wolf, one that stood on its hind legs and sneered at her.

Byrne continued fighting the ice demon as Aife dealt with the approaching wolves.

The wolves were not going down as quickly as she wanted to, so she whipped her sword through the frozen blue fire, making it light up in an ice flame thing. She slashed it at the wolf, making it freeze up, and also making it easier for her to hit it.

When Aife finished slicing through the last of the wolves, she was about to turn around and help Byrne get rid of the snow demon, when she heard a terrible yell.

The ice demons body shook with rage as dark magic ran through it's body. Aife moved towards them but an enormous shard of ice fell in front of her, she looked up to see the ice shards above were trembling. Some others fell and stabbed into the ground. 'We're running out of time...'

Byrne continued trying to defeat the ice demon but with no luck. Every time he sliced it open with his claw, it knitted itself back together with the surrounding ice.

The entire dome began to shake, warning them to hurry up and get the tear, or else they would be crushed.

Aife saw the flickering flame to her left, and she rushed towards it. She jabbed her sword into the flame, watching as it became engulfed in an orange light.

She raced towards the spinning ice demon and did not hesitate to slice open its side as it spun. It screeched and through the cut revealed a purple heart like thing, beating at a quick pace.

Byrne saw the opening and fired dark magic at the purple heart. The creature screamed and shot out ice at them again, and the wound re-closed. It spun around the room, banging against the walls, and making the ice shards above them fall.

They charged after it while dodging jagged knife like ice that fell from above. Twisting and diving away from the jagged knife like ice that threatened to crush them.

Aife, with her sword still burning, cut into the demon once again while Byrne waited for the opening to fire his dark magic at the sensitive heart. Once it was open he fired an even stronger orb of dark magic at it.

Being sick of the fight, Aife charged foreword, bringing her sword to hit the purple heart, the same time Byrnes claw (which was completely covered with dark electricity) also stabbed into the creature.

And for a moment everything froze. Both Aifes and Byrnes sword and claw stabbed into the heart of the demon as it froze there. Her sword engulfed in orange fire, as his claw was covered with dark blue magic.

It shrieked and spun too fast for them to move, causing them to fly backwards as the demon started spinning wildly around the room.

Finally, as the ice demon hit one of the rounded walls, an ice shard wobbled and fell onto the screaming demon, making it explode into dark shards of energy, which froze a moment before moving towards the tear.

The bars around the tear were gone, and the entire dome began to shake even more. Byrne and Aife raced towards the tear, Byrne grabbed it with his claw then grabbed Aifes arm. She was about to yell/ask what the hell he was doing but he pulled her into his chest and everything around them spun and turned into a light blue as the dome around them crumbled to the ground.

* * *

A/N: ... Finally! I friggen hate temples... Well, 2-3 left... -_- I was finally able to get over my writers block too... ;)

Woot cut off! I'm not sure what to say here...

Hmm... Well I guess I could say thank you to everyone who has reviewed and the like... Being able to see that some people are enjoying this really does inspire me to post up more and edit the following chapters right away... ;)

Oh and 'Omne reme a di re na' is from the song: Inon Zur- 'Mages Pride' You can check that out here: watch?v=nxUrz7ZLCp8

It's such a good song... ^^

Hey! Through out ALL of the Zelda games... Who or what was your favorite boss?


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:  
_"Why didn't I tell you? I love the way you understand, the way you laugh, they way you were when no one was looking... _

_Why didn't I tell you? _

_That you were beautiful, and you worth it all, so why didn't I tell you?..._

_If I could tell you now... I'd say I love you..."_  
-For King and Country "Missing"

This song is amazing... Please look it up! It fits this story perfectly... 3

* * *

Aife gasped as her head became very dizzy from the sudden rush around her. She was breathing hard, and when she opened her eyes she saw where they were.

She was outside of the temple, snow whipping around them, with Byrnes arm wrapped tightly around her. Blood rushed to her cheeks but she was still in shock at the rush to move away... And she almost enjoyed having him this close, though she would never admit that.

He didn't let her go immediately either, breathing hard from the adrenaline but after a second he removed his hand slowly from her back.  
"So, you can make force fields and teleport?" Aife said, finding her voice and putting things together at how they got here. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I had no reason too. And it saved our lives, so I hardly think it matters anymore." He told her, still looking a little out of breath.  
She snorted and they started towards where the train was.

"And here we've been walking like suckers..." She shook her head and Byrne let out a shaky chuckle then sighed.

Once they reached the train the temple behind them started to shake again. Then with a loud crash the tracks coming from the temple started glowing and a gold light flew from the temple and headed towards the Tower of Spirits, restoring the old tracks leading there. The second piece of the tower was now being pulled down to the rest of the tower, leaving two left floating in the air.

'Link must be here... I suppose it's best if we don't see him, I don't need Byrne to come in and pimp slap him again...' She felt some relief that he was successfully restoring the track and the tower. 'Just hurry, kid..' She urged at him mentally.

Byrne shot out dark magic, opening the door to the train and he jumped in, with very little effort. He reached his hand down for Aife to grab.  
She bit her lip and reached up, grabbing the handle, then his hand. He pulled her up and moved backwards a step for her. She muttered a quick thanks and moved away from him so that he could close the door.

She followed him into the control room, where he made light blue energy surround the tear, and after a second it disappeared.  
"Where did tha-" She started.

"Straight to Cole. He... Needs all the ones we've required immediately for the preparing of the resurrection." Byrne told her, she nodded and started to rock on her feet back and forth.

"Soo, do you have anything I could use to wipe the blood off of my clothes?" She asked.

He glanced at her then nodded and opened up one of the lower drawers, he pulled out a grey rag and handed it to her.

"Thanks..." She started to scrub off the dried up blood on her hip, lifting her shirt up over the bloodied area.

She saw Byrne quickly look away, trying to distract himself with one of the large maps.

"Where are we going next?" He questioned, his eyes avoiding her bare side.

She smiled slightly at his embarrassment. "The Ocean Realm... But I don't have a map for the temple..." She frowned.

Byrne searched around through his own pile of maps then sighed.

"Neither do I." He looked back at Aife, "And we are not making a stop at Carbens house."

"Alright... But there's a nice little village there, we could find maps at their market." She offered.

He paused a moment then sighed.

"Fine, but we can't stay long. We need to be quick and then head to the temple to get the next tear."

"'Kay." She chirped and was starting to leave.

"Where are you going?" He asked, though it wasn't in a rude tone like she expected.

"To... the passenger cart... Why?" She cocked her head to the side, and gave him a confused look.

"I-... Never mind but, you can stay if you so choose so." He told her, avoiding her gaze.  
She smiled.

"That's alright. Thank you, though, for the offer but I was just going to try and get a bit of rest before we arrived at the village." She told him, while standing at the door.

"... Of course." He finally got out.

She nodded and left the control room, closing the door behind herself as she did so.

'... Was he really asking me to, stay around with him?' She shook her head. 'But, maybe there is some kindness to him.'  
She wondered down the hall and into the passenger room, plopping down on the seat, letting her eyes close but not allowing herself to sleep.

(Byrnes POV!)

Byrne mentally cursed himself.

He... Hadn't meant for those words to slip out, or at least, not really. He wanted to apologize but he knew he wouldn't have said anything. Even if she had stayed he probably would have relied on her to do most of the talking, even if it was just her teasing him.

'Perhaps she did not want to stay because of that...' She had avoided every time he tried to apologize before hand. 'Or, maybe she is sick of my company... Wait.. Why does this matter?' He frowned. 'Why does it matter what she thinks of me? She is a just tool for resurrecting Malladus with. Nothing more.' But he had a hard time believing his own thoughts. And for that, part of him hated her. He hated the way she made him feel around her, he hated her crooked smile, her teasing eyes, her cheeks when he made her blush...

He hated that he enjoyed those things about her as well. Her understanding, her humor, the side of her that she rarely showed... 'No. I will not allow myself to loose control. Focus.' He growled to himself.

He twisted the handle of the train, and put it on full speed towards the Ocean Realm. He saw through the small window that the strong snow storm had passed, and gave him a full view of the tower, which, now, only had two parts floating above it.

He growled and hit the control handle, 'Cole will be furious.', they were running out of time, and fast. It seemed as though every time they took a step forward towards their goal, the others were always a step ahead.

Who they were was still the question, Byrne had the feeling that Aife knew but decided to ask her about it later. He also had suspicions about Anjean. 'Perhaps it's time to pay her a little visit...' He couldn't help the smile that creeped up at the thought of that moment, student versus master... Yes. He has grown stronger over the years without her as his teacher, and he was pleased that soon, he would be able to prove to his old master that he has grown stronger without the spirits.

'Omne reme a di re na...' Echoed through his mind. 'No. That is a lie. If you are more powerful than the gods, then you can return to them as a god yourself.' He thought pleasantly.  
He drew out their destination on the map, and felt the train turn in response. His hand ran through his hair, and he let out a long sigh.  
'Just finish this and it will all be over soon.' He reminded himself. 'Almost finished, two more tears left, then Malladus will surely grant me the power I deserve in aiding his resurrection.' He crossed his arms and watched as the blue hue of the ocean approached bit by bit.

- Aife POV - - -

/

After closing her eyes for a few moments, she opened them, and quickly changed into the other tunic she had. She decided it would be best to not scare the locals by wondering around with blood splotches on her clothing.

It wasn't that it bothered her, she just didn't want to look like some sort of psycho walking through their town with blood stains all over.  
This new tunic was blue, with a purple square design on the back, similar to what the other Lokomos had on their little scooter things. Its sleeves had a triangle cut in the middle of them exposing her arm, and it reached down to the center of her upper arm. It had two buttons holding it in place, one across her chest, and one with three gold beams going outward in the center of the tunic, similar to what Byrne had on one of his belts. It wasn't exactly bullet proof, but it was tough enough to withstand basic training, and it looked presentable.

She pulled her hair out of the loose bun, letting it tumble down her back as she shook it back and forth to make sure the strands were in the right place. She wrapped the hair band around her wrist, and shoved the other tunic in her bag.

She felt the train come to a stop, she grabbed her bag, and her sword before leaving the room.

She walked down the hallway to see Byrne leave the control room.

He looked at her for a second, his eyes moving up and down her new tunic, before he turned and open the door.  
He jumped out first, then held his hand up for her to hold grab on to. She was a bit surprised at the gesture, every other time he had simply let her jump out of the train before with out help.

'He's... Wow he's actually being nice... Awe.'

She gave him a strange look before she reached down to put most of her weight on his hand, then she hopped down.

He released her hand and she smiled at him and gave a slight bow.

"Why thank you, kind sir." She said in a mock accent of some of the royal families. Byrne rolled his eyes, but she could tell he was smiling.

"Let's get some more maps and leave." He told her.

"Oh, alright. But just so you know I'm using my own money on this, so I'm going to write Cole some 'you owe me' notes, I need you to get him to sign them. Okay?" She couldn't help her amused grin as he groaned and faced palmed himself.

"Just be quick." He told her.

She made a dramatic gasp.

"You're trying to bail on me again?! Oh! I can't believe you!" She was sure to make her tone as dramatic as possible, as she looped her arm through his and started to tow him towards the village. "You expect me to just be able to walk through this strange village without getting into trouble? You are a terrible escort! What ever will your dwarf leader say?" She smiled up at him as she saw him roll his eyes, his cheeks slightly flushed.

She continued ranting on about how she could have been kidnapped, (though, she already kind of was...) and then, when he would come looking for her, someone would steal his train!

When they finally entered Papuchia Village, having to hide the train away from human eyes, Aife stopped talking and released Byrnes arm.  
When they reached the normal train stop a tall women approached them.

She had dark skin, and long dark hair that was pulled up into a long ponytail, her bangs covered half of her face. She wore a long red dress, only having one sleeve. She smiled at Byrne, through her long dark lashes.

"Welcome to Papuchia Village." She told Byrne, completely ignoring Aife. "Mmm, the Wise One said there would be visitors today... Please, let me know if you need anything. It's been awhile since we had any strong men in the area..." The women told Byrne, looking him up and down with appreciative eyes. Aife felt a pang of jealousy of the way the women watched him.

"Thanks but we're all good." Aife told her giving the women a fake sweet smile, while pulling Byrne away from the women's gaze. "Come on." She muttered angrily at him.

He gave her a strange look as she pulled him away. After a second she let go.

"What's your problem?" He asked.

"Dude, she was practically undressing you with her eyes. I don't want to see that kind of stuff!" She told him and started towards the store tent. 'She's a mind rapist...'

"Maybe she was being nice." He told her. "Unlike some women." He muttered.

She rolled her eyes and brought her hand to her chest. "I. Am a perfect lady, jerk." She muttered back. "And she was being a little too nice..."

The suns golden rays were starting to turn into more of an orange hue, making the surrounding ocean look orange, and warm. Aife did not find the nearby water welcoming at all. In fact, it was making her a bit sick.

They walked over a bridge, and jumped over a few streams to reach the market area. Aife noticed how there were only women in the village. A few little girls ran around outside while a few other women watched Byrne and whispered to each other. Aife looked away and entered the tent to see an old lady smiling up at them.

"Well hello, dear. How can I help you?" The old lady was small and looked very frail but she seemed very sweet.

"Um, we were wondering if you had any maps to the Ocean Temple here." Aife smiled politely.

"Hmm." The elderly women searched around the shelves in the small tent.

"Sorry, dear. I don't have any maps that cover that area."

Byrne opened his mouth to speak but Aife cut in by stepping in front of him.

"Well, do you know anyone in the area who does?"

The old women frowned then looked back up at Aife.  
"The Wise One, speak to her. She should know where to get the maps for the temple."

"Thank you. Where does the Wise One live?"

"She is in the largest hut on the islands, you can't miss it."

Aife thanked her again and said a quick good bye as the lady smiled at them and told them to come again soon.  
"Alright... I guess we need to find this Wise One..."

"Ugh, I thought you said we would just be able to buy one?" He questioned angrily.

"Did I say that? I meant that we 'might' be able to find one here..."

Byrne ran his fingers through his hair. "Beidh tú bás dom." He muttered under his breath.

"What's that suppose to mean?" She questioned.

"You will be the death of me!" He told her angrily and spun on his heel and walked away.  
She was a little taken aback as she watched him stomp away.  
'Great...' She huffed and walked after him.

/

Byrne had his head hung and was leaning on the fence near the train stop. His hair hung over the edge, and he listened to the peaceful sounds of the water pulling and pushing the tides.

It was nearly high tide, the water almost reaching the edge of the village. He had not meant to snap at her. He just wanted this to be over.  
Aife watched him for a moment, giving him some space to calm down. The sun was starting to set now, pink and deep orange stained the sky and the water turned into a navy blue.

After a minute she walked up beside him. She took a step up on the fence, and looked out to the sea. She shivered, the deep blue water looked ominous. She did not like water, 'How could people live so close to it?' she preferred it when it was frozen.  
She saw something far out in the blue sea and gasped. 'Mermaids...' Her mind whispered and she giggled.

"Oh my goddess...! Byrne! Look!"

"What?" He sounded a bit annoyed.

"I think... There's a mermaid over there, in the water..." She gasped as she saw something jump in and out of the water. "Did you see it? Hey! You're not even looking!"

He sighed and moved away from the fence. "We're not hear to look at fish. Let's get those maps from the Wise One and leave." He told her.  
"It's not a fish, just look!" She leaned further over the fence, and pointed. Again something jumped out from the water and dove back in. Byrne started to walk away as he grumbled a curse under his breath.

She moved up onto the next bar and she was about to tell him to look again, when she felt her footing shift slightly. She became unbalanced and everything happened in a blur.

She screamed as she fell forward, seeing Byrne whip around, his eyes wide with shock.

She hit the water, hard, and started to sink into the cold deep blue. The frigid water engulfed her, it felt like frozen knives were clutching her, pulling her down.

She didn't know how to swim, which caused her to panic, she waved her arms around, and kicked violently, trying to see, feel, or find something to grab onto.

But there was nothing.

Her lungs screamed for air, and she gasped reflexively, she started to choke on the water that filled her lungs. She clawed at her throat, her eyes feeling like they might explode.

She felt herself hit something, the bottom. Rocks pressed against her back and arms, like hands holding her down.  
'NO!' She struggled to kick upwards, to move towards to the surface or at least she thought that way was up... She could no longer tell, she couldn't see through the water or hear anything. Her eyes closed as she tried to get out of the water. Her throat burned as she continued to choke, every time her lungs tried to get air, more water rushed in and her body heaved it out, and demanded air. Her chest felt like it might explode.

A thought hit her. She was drowning, and she couldn't do a damn thing about it.  
Then something snapped, her body froze up and she stopped choking and gasping for air. She felt her mind start to slip away, as though a black curtain swept over her. And after she struggled a bit more, she stopped. Her body finally locking up, unable to fight any more. Her muscles frozen in place.

She felt herself wanting to cry, scream for help, but there was nothing she could do. She was no longer thinking, or feeling anything now. It was as though she was empty.  
With a pop, everything went black.

* * *

Well I guess we won't be 'seaing' her again... *Snort giggle snort* Get it? 'Cause she's drowning in the SEA? *Crickets* Oh come on! That was comedy gold!

Jeez, she's not dead alright? Happy now? I would never kill her off... Like that... :) teehee... *silence* Oh, Come on! :3  
Oh, and Byrne was speaking in Irish. ;P Because... I'm part Irish and I wanted him to be able to speak a different language. ^^

Okay stop giving me the evil eye... I posted up four chapters in one day! Geesh! :3


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12...

* * *

Aife felt her head hit something hard, and someone was yelling but she could not understand the words they were saying. She felt sharp jabs of something small falling on her face, she wanted to wipe it away, but could not remember how to move.

Something pushed on her chest a few times, then something warm touched her lips. This continued for a bit longer until her stomach squeezed itself, hard, or really, it felt like a hand was gripping her stomach in a death like grasp.

She felt herself falling, then something drained from her mouth and she coughed and choked on the water in her mouth. As though she was drowning again. Her body continued to heave up water and it felt like fire was burning inside her lungs.

"AIFE!" Someone screamed at her.

She continued to cough, unable to stop choking on the water in her mouth. She tried to reach up with her hand to cover her mouth, as a reflex, but she couldn't feel her arms. Or anything really, except for the fire inside her. 'Just stop...' She willed the burning feeling 'Make it stop...'

"AIFE! Please!" Someone pleaded.

She felt herself starting to fade again, and heard more yelling above her. Then something warm pressed against her mouth, and pushed against her chest a few times after. Though she was no longer really feeling anything now.

But after what seemed like an eternity, or maybe it was a few seconds, something clicked. And her eyes flew open, and she gasped for air again. Blinding light stabbed into her eyes, and she tried to reach up and block it.

But something was holding her down, and panic filled her, as though she was still trapped in the water. She started to struggle against the force holding her, but to no avail. But she could start to feel more of her self now, a fire like feeling running through her arms and legs. She coughed a few times and gasped some more, breathing in the sweet air deeply. Her mouth tasted like blood, as did her lungs.

Her body started to shake uncontrollably, and more voices swarmed above her. Blood pounded in her ears, blocking out all noise, only allowing muffled voices to break trough.

She felt something wrap around her, a warmth holding her. And when her breathing became less raged, she let her mind slip away again, in the endless darkness.

::::::::::::::: Byrnes POV :::::::;;;;;;;

(**A/N**: Teehee! I'm listening to 'Can't Breathe' by Fefe Dobson ... Get it? Cuz, it's ironic because Aife couldn't breathe! No? Fine... *hides in closet*)

::::::::(back track slightly!):::::::::

"It's not a fish, just look!" Aife said, as she leaned farther over over the fence.

Byrne muttered a curse under his breath as he started to walk away. 'Foolish girl... What the hell is she thinking?' He was about to turn around and yell at her to come down and get the maps, when he saw her fall.

Her footing on the second bar along the fence slipped and he watched in horror as the girl fell into the deep blue water. Her expression completely shocked.

And then she was gone, with a splash, she disappeared under the rough jagged waves. He ran towards the fence, thinking that her head would pop out of the water any second now. But no one came.

'Can she not swim?...' He counted to sixty before he started to realize what the hell was happening, he cursed at himself. He threw off his scarf and claw, and dove into the water after her.

The water was freezing from the approaching night, which also made it hard to see, because of the setting sun. He kicked his legs and continued to swim downward, and when he reached the bottom, she was not there.

He searched around wildly for the foolish girl. He turned and saw a faint outline of a body, lying on the rocks, unmoving.

He felt his own lungs start to scream for air and he quickly swam towards her.

Once he was near her, he wrapped his arm around her waist and kicked up from the rocks beneath them. He pushed himself up until his head rose above the water.

He gasped for air, and positioned his arm around her so that her head was also above the water.

He quickly moved to shore and once he was on solid ground he let Aife go and yelled for help. His wet hair dripped water droplets on her pale face.

'No no no no, don't do this...' His mind rambled at her. 'You can't- you can't do this to me!'

Her chest wasn't moving, so he pressed his hands against her chest and began to try and pump out the water that filled her lungs. He brought his mouth to her frozen lips and blew in air. Then he started to pump her chest again.

After doing that for a few minutes he screamed at her.

"AIFE!"

With a finally push he saw her sputter, and he quickly turned her to her side, she coughed, choked and heaved up water. Her entire body shaking wildly.

"Somebody help me!" He yelled out. His heart hammered in his chest. He watched her sputter up blood, and the blood drained from his face as her breathing became more shallow and ragged.

"AIFE! PLEASE!" He yelled at her. "Stay with me!"

Someone from the corner of his eyes, someone approached them.

"What's going on?!" The dark skinned women yelled over, as she approached quickly. She saw Aife and gasped, "I'm going to get help!" She yelled over then turned to run back to the village.

Byrne turned Aife back onto her back and continued to breathe air into her lungs, then pumped her chest back and forth. 'Keep the blood and air flowing through her to keep her brain alive...' He's mind raced.

"Breathe!" He yelled at her. "Come on, Aife, breathe!"

He continued pumping her chest and breathing air into her until she gasped, her back arching.

He moved his ear to her chest and heard the rapid beat of her heart and breath. He looked back to her and saw her eyes open wide, completely blood shot.

She tried to sit up but he held down her shoulders as she continued to gasp and choke for more air. He cradled her head in his hand.

Several women surrounded him, gasping and talking all at once around him. Aife coughed some more and her body began to shake from the coldness and from the shock of everything, her eyes snapping shut.

The women there all spoke at once. As they helped Aife move so that the extra water in her lungs could drain out.

"We need to move her." One rushed out.

"Look at his scars..." Another whispered. Others also began to whisper about his scars. But he ignored them, cursing in his mind at how idiotic they were.

"She'll freeze to death out here!" A younger lady told them.

"She can stay at my house." One put in.

Byrne could no longer hear them, he only heard the breathing of Aife, telling him that she was alive. He scooped her up into his arms and held her close to his chest, to keep her warm and to keep her away from everyone else.

Someone touched his shoulder, he turned to see an elderly women with a long face staring intently at him.

"Come, child. We need to move her to some place warm." The old women told him.

He nodded and stood, his legs wobbled for a second but he ignored them and moved foreword. Cradling Aife to his chest, as her limp body continued to shiver violently.

:::::::::::::::::::::::

The elderly women lead him into a rounded hut/house where he carefully laid her down on the bed, reluctant to let her go.

A few other women swarmed around her, they stripped her of her soaking clothes, replaced by a dry white gown, and then wrapped warm blankets around her. One brought a warm cloth that rested on the shivering girls forehead. Byrne moved away from the women, standing near the wall as he watched them rush around to help Aife.

After several moments, they all left. Telling him to keep an eye on her. But the elderly women stayed behind.

The older lady grabbed a chair and placed it near Byrne.

"You must find one of us if her breathing becomes too quick or too slow. Or if she becomes colder." The lady instructed.

Byrne gave her a serious nod and sat down beside Aife.

The lady placed his green scarf and claw on the edge of the bed.

"You dropped this." She told him and left.

He thanked her and she closed the door, leaving Byrne with his thoughts and the unconscious girl. Every now and then she began to cough up blood and water, and he would place his hand on her back to lift her forward while she coughed into a cloth, her frozen fingers would grip is hand tightly as he held the cloth to her mouth.

Once he saw her breathing become a more repeatative pace, and she stopped coughing up blood and water, he relaxed slightly and let sleep finally take him. Waking every now and then by the dark skinned women, checking on Aife.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::

After waking up to see a bright light shining through one of the windows, Byrne stood and started to pace in the small hut. Aife laid unconscious in the single sized bed, her breathing was a slow, constant pace. Unlike before were it had been shallow and she continuously coughed up water and blood. He thought she had died, what with all the water she had consumed... He remembered all the blood from his face fell in fear of seeing her topple over the edge, and into the cold dark water.

He looked at the sleeping girl, color had returned to her face and she no longer looked as deathly pale as she had before. He wanted to reach out and feel if her cheeks were actually warm, or if it was a trick of the light...

'She almost died... What if-' But he whipped his eyes away from her, disgusted in himself.

'I have worked for over an entire century to get to where I am now. I cannot allow anyone to bring me down. I cannot be distracted by silly girls...'

Every time he closed his eyes all he could see was her falling deeper into the dark, unforgiving water. Him having to breathe air back into her lungs, pumping her chest back and forth to keep the oxygen flowing through her. Her cold body, shivering uncontrollably afterwards, blood spilling from her mouth, as she began coughing and choking.

Lucky for him the other women around had saw and rushed over, able to help her. They saw his scars and most of them had this look of wariness in their eyes, others had pity, and a few even seemed fearful. Nothing compared to how Aife reacted to them.

When she had finally started breathing again, and Byrne had carried her into the house, they quickly covered her under piles of blankets and told Byrne to stay and watch her, to make sure she was still breathing properly and the like. He would have stayed with her whether or not they asked him to. He almost felt responsible. 'If I had only paid attention... No. She was being foolish. 'Mermaids'... What is wrong with her?'

But a strange feeling kept washing over him. He had felt something awful, as though something inside him broke upon seeing her half lifeless body. Then to have her alive and safe again... Made him feel over protective, every time the tall dark skinned women came in to check on Aife his body became tense, and he watched her every move, as if she would hurt the unconscious girl. Deep down he knew she would never do such a thing but he couldn't help it.

"Ugh!" He slammed his fist into the wall. 'This is not right. These feelings are a sign of weakness. Do not allow yourself to be distracted.' He warned himself. 'You have worked too hard and for too long to be blinded by a single girl.'

But he still couldn't help the thoughts that crept in, the 'what ifs' and similar worries...

He sat back down onto the wooden chair and hung his head.

He knew damn well that he had feelings for her. His mind screamed they were poisonous thoughts, weakness, and utterly foolish. That they will be the death of him if he did not get rid of such pointless emotions. But another part of him only wanted her. Nothing else mattered then. Not even gaining power. But he would not allow these feelings to over take his mind, but he was not sure how much longer he could hold them back. 'Maybe they'll disappear in time?' But he was doubtful of that.

He let out a long sigh. He had almost lost her, and that frightened him.

He heard her shift slightly and heard her take a deep breath as she began to wake.

* * *

Oh boy...


	13. Chapter 13

ch... 13! (Oh my!)

Romance + Rivals = Rivalmance...

Best. Thing. Ever.

Oh Byrne... :3

-:Warning:-

Fluff stuff is coming up next. Like... Super fluff... No really. If you're not into that kind of stuff skip the next part. It's not even fluffy, it's like... BAM! Yeah... That's what it is... Bam... (I like that word now. Bam bam bam... ;3) I'm gonna start calling it that.

*screams like a fangirl* X3

Okay... You've been warned. ;)

* * *

::::::::::: Back to Aife POV ::::::::::

Aife carefully opened her eyes, rubbing away the crust that held them together, and breathed in the air around her then winced and groaned slightly at how her lungs felt like rust scraping together in her chest.

She took in her surrounding slowly, before she remembered what happened. 'Water, mermaids, drowning... Byrne, saved me?'

It all flew back to her, falling into the water, drowning, and then Byrne yelling at her to breathe. The major details were still a bit blurry but she decided that they weren't that important at the moment.

She swallowed and winced at how much her throat burned. Her chest also started to burn then too. As did her arms and legs from struggling in the water. She started to shiver, her body feeling frozen and stiff.

She turned and saw Byrne, watching her with careful eyes. Something fluttered inside her as his golden eyes stared intensely at herZ

His scarf was gone and she was about to ask him a question, as he also opened his mouth to speak but they were both interrupted by someone opening the door.

"Oh! You're awake! How are you feeling?" The dark skinned women entered and walked straight up to Aife, while pressing her wrist against Aifes forehead to feel her temperature. Her eyes flickered to Byrne, to see a flash of annoyance cross his expression, then back to the lady.

"I-" Her voice cracked. "Fine. Just sore."

The women smiled warmly at her.

"We are all glad you are alive and well, the Wise One would like to speak with you when you're ready."

Aife nodded and the women left the house.

She turned to Byrne and sat up.

"You okay?" She asked him, as she groaned slightly when she pushed her legs off the bed.

He seemed surprised at her question.

"What? I-, of course. Why are you getting up? You need to rest." He told her and he stood the same time she did.

"I'm fine." She told him, which was complete bull shit. "I just need to stand up." He grabbed her arm, his skin felt warm ander head started to feel light now.

"You're freezing... Please, just rest, you shouldn't be moving so quickly." He told her.

She sat back down, and the door re-opened.

"Can I talk with you?" A women asked Byrne, he looked to Aife, then nodded, 'Why does he look annoyed?'

"Stay here." He told Aife as he turned and left.

She rubbed her temples and got up again once the door closed, she walked away from the bed and placed her hand against the wall. Her head started spinning again and her legs started to shake.

She looked down to see she was in some kind of white cotton dress but she could not remember changing into it. Her clothes were dry and set on top of the bed, she was about to move over there and grab them when the door re-opened.

"What are you doing?" Byrne questioned and stomped towards her. "You need to rest."

"I told you I'm fine." Her burning lungs begged to differ. "I just want to get away from the ocean now."

"Don't be a fool, rest before you hurt yourself." He growled.

"Don't be such a jerk. I'm fine now."

He glared at her, and she glared back.

"Just get some more rest." He commanded. "You're shivering like hell."

"No. I'm done resting." Though her body did want a few more hours of sleep.

"I saved your life, do not put yourself at risk again by acting foolish." He told her angrily.

"So you do care." She told him, smirking slightly.

"I feel nothing for you. I only helped you for the reason of the need to accomplish our goal." He spat at her. She could easily see that he was lying, but his words still stung. "You are a tool for resurrecting Malladus with." He added.

She flinched at that, and looked away.

"That's bullshit." She shot back. "And you know it."

He snorted.

"Well that just shows what you know."

"You would have let me drown if that was true!" She yelled at him. 'Why is he being so difficult?!'

"Oh? Are you sure about that?" He stepped closer, and she took a step back, her back hitting the wall.

"I know you feel something. Though you may not want to except it, I can see it in your eyes." She told him, something flashed across his eyes.

"You're a fool." He told her.

"And you're a liar! Or do you do this because your puppet master didn't command it?" She could see that hit a nerve. She almost felt hurt that he was refusing to except the truth, when it was clear he felt something about her.

His eyes filled with rage, and his hand flew up to her throat, forcing her head against the wall as he moved closer. 'Ow!'

The action shocked her, and her body tensed. Though he didn't try to strangle her... Yet. 'Jerk!' Tears pricked at her eyes, from the shock of him with his hand around her neck, her mind not fully understanding what was happening, and the near death experience didn't help either.

"He does not control my actions." He growled through clenched teeth, his gold eyes more intense than ever.

"Prove it." She spat, then remembered the hand gripping her throat. 'Maybe it's not the best time to challenge him...'

Something flashed over his eyes when he realized what he was doing, and he stared at her for a moment. Then something in his gaze softened, and his eyes looked hurt.

"Why?..." His grip became loose around her neck, cradling it now, and his thumb slid slightly down her throat, causing shivers to run along her spine. "Why do you torment me in such a cruel manner?..." He leaned closer. "It drives me mad." He whispered in a low, husky, and a some what strained voice. She couldn't stop staring wildly at him, not sure how to react or even understand what he was saying. Blood creeped up to her cheeks as she felt the heat radiate from his closeness.

"Byrne, I-"

He kissed her, silencing her words.

She let out a surprised noise.

She felt her body become tense from the sudden contact, then relaxed slightly as his hand slid slowly around to the back of her neck carefully pushing her lips closer. Her eyes fluttered closed as his mouth slowly pried her own open. She brought her hand up to his cheek, tracing his scars, and leaning in closer, kissing him back. He took that as a sign of encouragement and leaned into her, pushing her back even closer to the wall. His warmth engulfing her, allowing her to forget about how cold she really was, and just feel him.

She wanted this just as much as he did, though they refused to admit it out loud, she wanted him as he wanted her. Despite everything happening, she just wanted this. She closed her eyes tighter, willing the moment to last as long as possible. All their fear and anger disappeared, any doubt they had fell away, and it was only her and him... She felt safe now.

The kiss was gentle at first, he carefully cradled her neck and lightly pressed his lips against her own, while gently tugging at them. Then it became more fierce. She wrapped her arms around his neck, while raking her fingers through his hair, feeling him shiver and give a soft moan at her touch. He wrapped his other arm around her waist, pushing the small of her back towards his own hips, forcefully. His arms around her tightened, keeping her warm in his protective embrace. Her head had to tilt up in order to reach him as his had to tilt downward, and their kiss became deeper, and more demanding.

But their embrace was cut short by a loud banging. The knocking caused Aife to jump, and she turned towards the door, Byrne growled in annoyance. They quickly untangled themselves as the door flew open.

"Are you alright? I heard yelling and- oh! You're up! Well, The Wise One will be happy to see you're up now." The tall dark skinned women said, when she saw their expressions she gave them a strange look. "I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?"

Aife blinked a few times and Byrne took a step back as he continued to only watch Aife.

'Yeah, that won't make us appear suspicious at all...'

"Nope! Nothing, we're fine. I'll go chat with The Wise One right away. Thank you for telling us." She tried to stop her cheeks from becoming even more heated.

The women gave her a strange look, her eyes lingering on Byrne, (who paid no attention to her), then she nodded and left.

Aife breathed a sigh of relief, and let her head fall back against the wall.

She looked back to Byrne, who was watching her carefully.

"Well, that was... Interesting." She finally got out.

"And which would that be?" He asked, taking a step towards her.

She smiled slightly. "Maybe both."

"In a good way or a bad way?" He asked.

"Guess." She told him.

He chuckled. "Was this... interesting enough?" He held her chin and gently kissed the corner of her mouth, allowing his lips to trail lightly over her own.

She let out a giggle and moved out of his grasp.

He gave her a dark smile, and grabbed her wrist.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

She was about to make some cunning comment but remembered the real reason. Dampening her spirits.

He saw her expression grow grim and his darkened as well.

"We should go and talk with The Wise One, and then I guess we have to go to the Ocean Temple." She told him.

He sighed and let his head fall against her shoulder. Breathing in the scent coming off her neck.

"Fine." He got out. He lifted his head and moved away, grabbing his scarf and claw.

He left the room, giving her privacy to change and prepare for the day. Though it wouldn't have bothered her if he had stayed.

'Well... Maybe it would have been a bit awkward...' She huffed and quickly moved to change into her regular gear before heading outside. Her mind racing.

She brought her hand up to her lips, she almost couldn't believe that that had actually happened. Her first kiss. 'Alright Aife,

Stop getting all mushy, and start getting dressed.' She told herself. But she couldn't help it, she closed her eyes for a second, before she removed the white gown.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

TheMidnightWhisp: Finally! Yeesh! Took you guys long enough... XD

Aife: •/•

TheMidnightWhisp: ^_^

Anyways... ;) *runs away giggling like a fangirl*

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

:::::::.. (still) chapter 13 ..:::::::

After Aife finished getting dressed she grabbed her sword (which, surprisedly, survived her near drowning experience...) and headed outside.

The smell of the ocean hit her, and her stomach felt sick. 'The sooner we leave this place, the better.' She let out a breath before walking down the steps from the house and turned to her right, towards the Wise Ones house. Her body still felt like ice, and she wanted desperately to rush back into the house and hide under the million pile of blankets. She shook her head, 'Almost done here... Then back to the... cold... train... Aw. Dammit.'

Aife continued walking, crossing her arms over her chest for warmth. She could see the Wise Ones house, it was slightly larger than the others and far more decorative.

'Where's Byrne?' She wondered, but she thought too soon. She could see Byrne was leaning against the side of the Wise Ones house. She walked up to him.

"Aife..." He started, his eyes looked troubled.

"Yes?" She cocked her head to the side.

"I... Am, sorry." He finally got out. "For everything."

She smiled warmly at him, and lightly trailed her hand over his.

"It's okay." She murmured. "You ready?" She asked, trying not to think about how they were tangled together just a few moments before.

His gaze softened and he nodded and followed behind her as she entered the large house. The room they entered was dark, having deep purples and blues as the main colors, there was a low table in the center and on either side were fish statues with crystal balls on top of their mouths.

"I dare you to poke those balls." Aife whispered back at Byrne who rolled his eyes while smirking. 'Tee-hee... Fish balls...'

An old lady walked in from behind a certain of beads. She had a long face, sagging from time, and wore a bit too much make up for her age.

"Welcome, Child of two worlds, it is a pleasure to see you alive and well." The women told her as she sat on a cushion in front if the crystal ball.

"How- why do you call me that?"

"I know many things, child. The fates told me of a person from two worlds would be coming soon. Am I wrong?"

"Ugh, no ma'am." 'What?!' "I did not mean to be rude. Um, it is nice to finally meet you as well." Aife finally got out. "But we were just wondering if you had any maps that covered the Ocean Temple area."

"Hmm, I do. But, I must ask of something of you in return." The women said.

Aife gave her a questioning look.

"And what would that be?"

"I ask, that when you enter the temple, you remember that certain floors are parallel to the next. Do not take the false item that you seek." The women told her sternly. "There are some sides of things that must not be disturbed."

Aife nodded. Not quite sure how to respond to that.

The Wise one handed her some maps to the temple then smiled.

"Try not to fall in the water." She told her pleasantly.

Aife felt her eye twitch, but smiled back and thanked her before leaving with Byrne.

She bit her lip and frowned.

"I hate this place." She whispered.

"Let's go." Byrne told her, she nodded eagerly.

She tried very hard to hide her shivering from him, or how she winced when she breathed in too deeply.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::

When they finally reached the train Aifes legs felt like jello, and she wasn't too excited to enter the frozen metal demon tube either.

Byrne opened the door, and jumped in. He reached down and she reached up to grab his out stretched hand. Wincing at how much her arms hurt.

He used both of his hands, being cautious with his clawed one, to pull her up.

Once her feet were on the trains floor, he closed the door and pulled her into his chest.

"Why didn't you say you were still cold?" He muttered into her ear, feeling her cold arms, and her body shiver as he wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm not." She lied, taking in the warmth from his body.

"Oh, really?" He asked, he removed the hair surrounding her neck to see goose bumps. "Liar." He whispered in her ear, his hot breath caused her to shiver inwardly.

She closed her eyes and leaned into him, resting her head on his chest.

He sighed. "Will you wait for me in the passenger cart? I need to plot out our route." He sounded annoyed that he had to cut their embrace short, and she mentally smiled that he was annoyed at leaving her, especially for doing something that involved their so called mission.

"'Kay." She mumbled, her body feeling like it was the heaviest thing in the world.

He reluctantly let go of her, and they moved to go down separate halls through the train. She slowly wondered into the passenger cart, where she dropped herself on the nearest seat, feeling exhausted. 'Almost done here...' She thought, she let her eyes droop shut as she felt the train jerk foreword.

After a minute the door to the passenger cart opened with a creak and then closed. She didn't open her eyes right away but when she did Byrne was right beside her.

He sat between her and the wall, as she moved to lean against him he pulled her onto his chest, and leaned his back against the wall. She let her head rest between his shoulder and neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist, and she no longer felt cold. Even touching him didn't bother her. No, it felt right with him, his embrace was warm, protective, and comforting. Which she had not felt for quite some time.

"Your arms are still freezing... How are you feeling?" He asked her.

"Fine..." She muttered against his neck. "How about you?"

"Better." He told her, resting his head on top of her own. "Much better now..."

She closed her eyes again, and waited before speaking.

"When this is over... What will happen, to us?" She asked quietly.

"... I don't know." His voice was strained.

A pause.

"...Cole... Will want me dead, I know that much."

His embrace tightened.

"I'm not going to let that happen." He whispered.

She nodded. Unsure of what to expect when that day would come. 'Then what about you?' She did not want to ask that out loud, she knew he didn't have the answer to that, but she also didn't want to hear it either.

"Byrne?" She asked.

"Yes?"

"... Thanks for, pulling me out of the water..." She said.

"...Anytime." He told her.

She paused before speaking again.

"Those mermaids were a lie." She whispered and heard him chuckle, it rumbled through his chest, and she smiled. She started to play with the end of his scarf and his hand trailed over her back in a lazy pattern.

She was starting to doze off and so was he, his body became more relaxed and his breathing more even, she could even feel his pulse at a steady, calm, rhythm. But his arms did not loosen around her. She moved her hand up to rest around the crook of his neck and shoulder, relaxing her body so she felt like she could practically melt in with him.

They were able to rest like that for a few minutes before the train came to a sudden stop. His grip tightened around her and he sighed angrily.

He sat up, still holding her close, and he let his head fall against her shoulder again.

"Well... Here we are..." Aife started, though he still didn't move. His soft hair tickled her neck, lightly brushing across her skin. She sighed and started to play with his pony tail. She was just about to start braiding it when he lifted his head and looked at her. "Let's get this over with quickly." She told him.

He nodded, and Aife moved herself off of him as he stood. She grabbed her sword from the other seat.

She walked down the hall, and moved beside the outside door. Byrne opened it and pulled Aife into his chest before jumping out. She let out a surprised noise/yelp at the sudden rush. He easily landed on the ground with a simple thump.

She blinked a few times before looking up at Byrne.

"A little warning would have been nice..." She told him.

"I just thought it would be easier for you." She raised an eyebrow, he only rolled his eyes. "Did you think I wouldn't notice you wincing every time you moved a certain way?" She bit her lip and shrugged.

"Thanks." 'I suppose jumping out would have killed my legs...' "But I'm not going to break that easily." She told him.

Something passed over his gaze, and he gave her a slight dark smile. 'Oh, shit.'

"Oh, really? So, you think that you are... Unbreakable?..." He questioned. His finger lightly traced circles over the small of her back. "Are you sure?" He whispered in her ear darkly. She felt heat rise to her cheeks and she shivered inwardly. Trying to ignore his warm fingers trailing along her spine, teasing her.

"I meant that you don't have to treat me like glass, weirdo. I don't know what the hell you're getting at." She lied as he released her. He chuckled.

"Are you certain about that? Perhaps we'll need to test that some day..." She looked away from him to hide her blushing cheeks and grumbled something about him being a pervert.

They walked away from the demon train and Aife looked around them. They seemed to be in a cave like place, and strange creature things, that were normally only seen underwater, covered the walls. She frowned at that.

"Is... The Ocean Temple... Under water?" She asked cautiously.

"Do you really want to know?" He asked her.

She groaned.

"Ugh, wonderful..." She muttered. "Well let's find that tear and get the hell out of here." They started towards the small stone door, which had the Ocean Realm symbol on it.

Water tapped against the ground, the sound echoed through the room, a droplet splattered against her cheek, she rubbed it away vigorously. 'Bloody water...' She sighed and rubbed her temples. 'Just ignore it. Just ignore it...' She told herself.

* * *

**A/N**: *peeks over from iPod, waves, then runs away* Mwhahhahaha! X3

/\/\

Okay, what is your favorite kiss scene from either a book, movie/show, anime/manga, game, etc...?

Hmm mine? *grins evilly* In Dragon age 2: The first kiss with Fenris... and Anders... *_* that was just... Awesome. ^o^

And then there is... O.O *blushes* ... Nevermind.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 (Holly hell!)

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

* * *

When they reached the entrance, the room in front of them was quite strange. Aife thought that with an Ocean Temple it would be full of water or something close to that. Instead it had rows of, well what looked liked, holes in the ground. Long rows of darkness ran beside them, and strange wooden poles stuck out of the walls. The walls were a deep blue with strange designs on them and the floor had round navy blue tiles.

Aife pulled out the new Ocean Temple map and began to scan over it. She flipped through the other pages and frowned. For every floor the one above it was exactly the same, parallel.

"I guess the Wise One wasn't kidding after all..." She muttered to her self. "Alright, so... If we go up here... Then we go to the next floor above us... There should be some sort of entrance that will lead us to the lower levels." She looked at him through her hair that fell over half of her face.

He nodded, and his eyes glanced at her before the started moving.

The next room they came across had four stone tablets, each one stating a certain number was above it. A weird yellow bobble headed thing wondered up to Aife, it started to spark, then it's entire body was covered electricity. She was about to cut it down when something grabbed the end of her sword.

She tuned to see Byrnes claw holding it from cutting down the strange yellow monster.

"If you touch that you'll end up shocking yourself. Just move away from it." He said.

She sighed and glared at the creature.

"I'll get you next time..." They started to move around it when she called back, "Just when you think you're safe, I'll come back and get you!"

She heard Byrne sigh beside her and he grabbed her head to turn it towards where they were walking. She pursed her lips as they turned the corner.

"Don't manhandle me... That thing was asking for it." She told him as she started to walk backwards to face him.

He shook his head and brought his hand up to run it through his hair.

"Must you always-" Aife started to raise her hands in defense at the coming accusation but he never got to finish, because something made a clicking noise, and Aife let out a slight scream as something burned past her raised palm.

She looked down at her hand to see a large gash, with red already pooling down from it. An arrow had cut her.

"Bloody hell." She muttered.

She looked to the wall and saw a small hole, then something moved in front of it and she heard another click.

Her eyes widened and she moved back and bumped into Byrne as another arrow shot out and hit the wall.

"Shit!" She heard another click of an arrow moving in place inside the wall. Along that same wall were a few other holes, most likely filled with arrows ready to be shot out at any one who approached.

She wiped her hand on her tights, removing some of the blood, though it continued to bleed. She tried to hide it from Byrnes intense gaze.

"Let me see." He told her, grabbing her wrist.

"No, it's fine. We just... Have to find a new way to walk through this hall." She told him while moving away. He didn't look convinced. "I'm fine!" She chirped, spun around, and raced through the arrows that were launched at her. She ducked under a few and twisted away from others, her hair whipping around her wildly as she finally reached the end of the hall. 'Hell yeah... That was epic...' She smiled back at him. "Your turn." She told him. "Let's see if you're any good at arrow dodging."

"Heh." He smirked slightly.

And, with a slow cat like grace, he walked through the hall. He lifted his claw and the arrows bounced off like nothing. His eyes gave her a lazy amused stare.

He walked right up to her and raised an eyebrow.

"That's-... That's cheap." She finally told him, they started towards the door and she made her hand (the non bloodied one) into a claw like shape. While mimicking his own slow walk. "Oh, look what I can do with my claw thingie, I can block arrows and look completely dangerous at the same time!" She said in a deep voice, mocking his own.

He rolled his eyes.  
"You're just jealous." He said.

"Oh, don't flatter yourself." She grumbled as they walked up the stairs.

They walked through the hall and turned to their right where Aife almost fell into a dark pit in front of her. She caught herself and moved back a step.

There was a wooden block thing on the edge and a few more arrow shooter things on the wall.

She pulled out her map and began to search where Carben had told her where the lower levels entrance would be.

Apparently, it was on the other side of the wall, in the center of the room.

"We can use this block to get past this pit." Byrne told her.

She frowned at the block.

"Okay... But if it falls I'm going to kill both of you." She warned him.

"I assure you it's safe." He told her and stepped onto the block with her.

She held onto his shoulder pads with a death like grip as the block lurched forward.

"Byrne, lift your claw!" She commanded. He did so and blocked the arrows that were fired at them. They made a clinking noise and fell into the dark pit upon hitting his claw.

The block lurched to the side and into the next room, where the lower levels entrance should be.

But there was no flooring where the entrance should have been. Instead there were four purple switches surrounding the area where they were suppose to go.

"Shit..." She said.

"What?" Byrne questioned.

She sighed. "We... We're going to have to jump." She told him.

"_What_?" He repeated.

"We have to jump into the center of this pit to get to the lower levels." She told him as they edged closer to the center.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked.

'No... With my luck will hit solid ground and be squished. Or land in a pool of water...' The last though made her shudder.

"I don't see any other way to get down there." She told him.

"Hang on." He told her and his grip around her waist tightened.

"Wait-" She never got to finish because Byrne jumped off the block with her.

She screamed and buried her face into his chest as the air whipped past them.

They didn't seem to fall for very long before water splashed against them as they fell into a pool of water.

Aife gasped as she felt water engulf them both. 'FUC-!' Her mind screamed as the sickening feeling of cool water pulled her and Byrne down. She held her breath and closed her eyes, and she could feel Byrne start to kick them up towards the surface. Or at least, she assumed it was to the surface.

The black water that surrounded them felt like sharp, frozen, jagged knives that were clawing at them, trying to bring them farther down. She held back everything inside her that wanted to scream and gasp for air, it started to feel like something was putting pressure on her chest, her whole body was becoming stiff from the frozen water, and her lungs begged for air.

After a minute they finally broke through the water and they both gasped for air.

Aife started to hyperventilate as she began to panic. She choked and coughed up water that had gone in her mouth and was splashing against her face. She continued gasping, unable to think or see clearly.

"It's okay!" Byrne told her. "It's okay, just breathe. I'm going to swim us over to that ledge, just relax, and breathe." He said, trying to stop her from over panicking, while holding her head above the water.

Her head spun and her body started to shake, she grabbed onto Byrnes neck with an iron grip as he moved them towards the ledge he had saw.

There was a torch lightning up the ledge and Byrne pushed Aife out of the water first before climbing up onto the ledge after.

She dragged herself from the water, and pressed her cheek against the cool stone of solid ground. Her pulse hammered through her shaking body and she closed her eyes, trying to control her ragged breathing. She pulled her sword from her back and let it fall beside her. As well as the maps. How they managed to survive, she had no idea.

Byrne was also breathing hard, then he reached over to Aife. Her skin felt hot and cold, and she was finding it difficult to breathe, as though her lungs were freezing and shrinking at the same time. She closed her eyes tighter, trying not to think about being in the water.

"Aife? Hey, it's okay, we're out of the water now." He told her.

When she didn't respond he scooped her up into his chest, and wrapped his arms around her protectively. Though his embrace was also cold.

"It's okay. Just breathe. You're okay." He murmured in her ear. He rubbed her arms with his hands, trying to keep her warm.

She wrapped her hands around his neck, feeling his wet hair and cool skin. Her skin felt like ice, and her bones started to become more stiff from her frozen wet clothes.

"It's... Freaking... Cold..." She got out through chattering teeth.

Byrne started to pull her tunic off of her shoulder.

"What are you-?" She started.

"Your wet clothes will only make you colder. And... Body heat is the best way to... Keep warm..." If she wasn't freezing cold she might have blushed at that but at the moment she didn't give a damn.

He undid the buttons on her tunic and peeled it off her. She shrugged it off and placed it beside them, her body shaking uncontrolably. He unwrapped his scarf and threw that, and his claw, to the side as well. He carefully lifted her tank top off, trying not to frighten her, but she didn't care, or feel embarrassed, no, all she felt was her frozen clothes becoming heavier and more stiff. The tip of his fingers trailed up her sides as he pulled it off her. Once that was off, and she only had her bra and tights on. He yanked his own shirt off, revealing his finely crafted muscles.

He pulled her closer, wrapping his huge arms around her to allow their body heat to warm each other. Skin against skin. She placed her hands on either side of his neck, feeling his quick pulse race under his skin. His arms tightened around her and pulled her closer as he rested his head against the space between her neck and shoulder. Water from her hair trailed down her back, and she shivered.

Byrnes body loomed over her, keeping her away from the frigid air. She moved her arms and hugged his back tightly, breathing in the warmth coming off his neck. His skin was starting to feel warm, allowing her own frozen skin to feel like it was starting to melt.

She had never had herself this exposed to anyone, or even had anyone this close. She could hear every breath he took and his heart beating a slow rhythmic pace, the sound of it helped relaxed her. Having him so close didn't bother her, their skin against each other was comforting to her, something about being this pressed against him was... Soothing and exciting in a way.

They stayed like that for about half an hour, until they could feel their fingers again. Bit by bit their blood started flowing through their veins, allowing their bodies to heat themselves. They couldn't even speak to each other because their throats seemed to be laced with frost. But it all started to melt away now. As though they were starting to melt into each other. Her fingers lightly traced over the maze of his back, and he pressed his lips against her neck.

"Are you still cold?" He breathed against her neck.

She shook her head.

"Jumping was a dumb idea..." She muttered.

"Hm" He pressed his lips against her lower jaw. "Aren't your legs cold?" He asked.

She smiled slightly. "No way, mister. You're not getting me out of my pants that easily."

He chuckled. "What a shame. Then, I suppose we'll have to wait here a bit longer so that we don't die of hyperthermia." He said, pressing his lips against her shoulder.

She shivered inwardly at that.

"And what about that precious tear you so desperately need?" She said in a teasing tone.

"... It can wait." He told her.

"Really?... Hmm, I don't know, Byrne, aren't we on a time limit?" She tried to pull herself away to bug him.

He growled, and pulled her closer while pinning her against the ground. She hissed at the cool tiles against her skin, and he brought his arms around her back to shield her bare skin from the floor. All while holding himself just barely off her.

"You're not getting away that easily." He whispered in her ear.

She giggled. "Oh, really?"

He gave her a dark smile and gently brought his lips on her own. He pulled at them in a demanding sort of way. She kissed him back softly, then pulled away after a second. He gave her a confused look.

She bit her lip. "I... We should get out of this temple." She told him quietly, kicking herself mentally.

His eyes looked a bit disappointed but he sat up and pulled her with him anyways.

"You're right. We should not be fooling around." He told her.

"I didn't mean-.."

He cut her off. "I know but... We still need to finish this." He avoided her gaze as he spoke.

'Dammit... He seemed as though he was almost happy... And now I've ruined it...' She knew they couldn't stay here but she also didn't want to pull away from him so quickly.

They stood up and collected their clothes. They weren't as wet as before but were still cold none the less.

She pulled on her tank top then slowly put on her tunic, hissing at how cold it felt sliding against her skin. She saw Byrne twist his scarf tightly to drain the remaining water in it.

She saw that the so-called ledge they were on wasn't a ledge at all but a hallway. A few more torches were lit down it before the hall made a turn to the left.

She grabbed her sword and the soaked maps, which were hardly readable now.

'Wonderful...' She squinted at the map, the one that told them which floor they were on but the ink was too smudged together to read.

She started foreword and Byrne followed as he readjusted his claw.

They walked down the hallway then turned left, the new room was covered with water, with only a few stones that created a path into the next hall.

She shuddered as she saw something snake just barely underneath the surface. There were a few torches along either side of the room.

"Do you want me to go first?" Byrne asked, seeing how much she hesitated.

She nodded and he moved in front, hopping onto the stepping stones. She jumped onto the closest one as he moved onto the next one. She waved her arms around for balance. Again something moved beneath the water, she squinted at it as it almost started looking like a fish approaching her...

It jumped out at her, tiny sharp teeth bared, and she barely had enough time to pull her sword out and cut it in half. When the demon fish hit the water it turned into black/purple smoke then disappeared. Byrne turned back to look at her.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Don't freak out but... I think there are demon fish in the water." She said, looking around at the water.

"Just ignore them. We need to get to the next hall." He told her.

She rolled her eyes at him, and something in the water moved toward Byrne.

"Hey, Byrne..." She called over as she hopped onto the next step.

"What is it now?" He turned to her, half annoyed.

She smirked slightly as the demon fish thing launched itself at him. Reflexively he used his claw to swipe at the fish that threw itself at him, and it automatically exploded into black/purple smoke.

Byrne glared at the spot where the fish had come from, then glanced back up at Aife. His eyes grew wide.

"Aife, don't look behind you. Just move over here, quickly." He urged her, watching the space behind her.

She didn't have to look behind herself to know what was there. A swarm of those demonic fish things swam over to them.

Aife jumped onto the next stone and then the next, quickly, as did Byrne.

Byrne reached the new hall, and Aife jumped beside him. He lifted his claw and created a purple energy shield as the fish jumped with their mouths wide open. They hit the force field with a pinging noise. A few exploded, while others simple fell back into the water.

"Holly hell..." Aife muttered.

The fish were gross looking. They all had red eyes with yellow irises and sticky black scales that were coated in a green substance of some sort. She could practically see their bones showing through their thin skin.

Once the fish finally stopped hitting against the shield, Byrne put his hand down and they turned and left down the hall.

"That was... Dark magic, wasn't it?" She asked him, giving him a sideways glance.

He nodded but kept his gaze foreword.

She huffed. 'Back to the old Byrne...'

The next room they reached was round and had a deep blue spiral on the floor and a pedestal in the center. Something about the room seemed off. A black tear floated above the pedestal, and every step they took on the floor was silent. Even as Aife stomped her foot on it, the floor remained silent. Byrne approached the tear and was about to grab it when Aife stopped him.

"Wait." She said. "Don't touch it." She walked up to the tear and examined it.

"What? We've found it. Now we can leave." Byrne stared at her in confusion.

She frowned at the tear.  
"Don't you remember what the Wise One said? The rooms below us are parallel to each other. This is a decoy. If you touch it, then..."

"Then what?" He questioned.

"I don't know! Something bad will happen?"

He sighed. "Fine. Lead the way to the real tear then."

She looked around the room until she saw the exit. They headed towards the door and as they reached the door, bars snapped closed in front of it.

"It can never be that easy, can it? Why can't things just be simple?" She questioned at the bars angrily.

They turned around to see the so-called tear start to glow a deep blue, then it exploded. The black shards flew across the room and stopped just in front of Aifes and Byrnes eyes, before falling to the ground.

The flat diamond shards then slid to the center of the room and started to form a strange creature thing. It was very tall, cloaked in black with long thin gray arms and it had crooked/jagged teeth hanging out of it's flopped open jaw. The spot where its eyes should have been was covered by a black cloth that had a red eye painted on it. It turned to Byrne and Aife then pointed at them before it shrieked.

The cloaked demon beast crumpled to the floor and left behind a black circle. Aife pulled her sword out, and Byrne readied his claw, they slowly moved foreward.

As soon as they were a few feet from the door, the cloaked monster spun from the ground behind them and slashed it's bony hand at them.

They were able to jump away in time but it hit Byrne. Byrne was able to swing his claw up and block the demon thing from pushing him back.

Aife saw the demons back was vulnerable and quickly slashed her sword at it's bony spine, which knocked out a large piece of it.

"Eww." She made a disgusted face at the sickening crunch and snap its spine made when it fell back together after loosing a part of its spine.

It screamed and whipped itself towards Aife, completely ignoring Byrne.

Aife brought her sword up and was able to hold it from crushing her but the force was too much. It slashed at her with its other claw and she was flung towards the wall with an 'oof'.

White hot pain ran through Aifes back and splotches danced across her vision. She kelt on the ground and groaned before she started to stand.

She saw Byrne luring the demon thing away, and was firing dark magic at it while jumping from side to side to avoid being pimp slapped.

"Get its spine!" Aife yelled at Byrne. Seeing how hitting its front didn't do anything.

Byrne glanced at her then looked back at the creature. He fired dark magic right into its face, then jumped around to its back to swipe his claw at it's spine in one fluent motion. When his gauntlet smashed against a piece of its spine, it shattered, and flew off it's back, making the demon even shorter.

Aife raced up to it as it disappeared. After a minute of it not reappearing Aife wondered over to the pedestal. She was about to poke it with her sword, when the demon rose from the ground beside her and screamed at her.

It slashed it's hand at her, to which, she was able to block, and she continued to hold back the force of it.

"Byrne! Pretend to destroy the pedestal!" She yelled at him.

"What?!" He yelled back as he charged towards the demon.

"Just do it!" She yelled.

She heard him growl in annoyance as he changed direction and charged towards the pedestal. As soon as he was about to smash the pedestal to bits the demon turned its attention to him. Which gave Aife enough time to drive her sword into its gut.

Byrne turned towards the demon and fired a huge orb of dark magic at it. The demons body became stiff and it started to shake wildly. Aife ripped her sword out of it mercilessly. Black blood oozed out of the demon as it screamed and whipped around the room violently, smashing against the walls and gripping at it's head.

Finally it let out a bellowing screech and exploded into black shards, which froze in the air before sinking into the floor.

Aife was breathing hard, her ears ringing, as the doors re-opened.

"Are you okay?" Byrne asked, looking out of breath.

She nodded. "You?"

He nodded and they both headed towards the door.

The new hall had a thin layer of water covering it, and sticky green seaweed covered the walls.

They stumbled upon a few monsters and demon fish things that were easily disposed of.

The found another stairway that led downward. Once they reached the new floor, the water on the floor reached up to their knees.

Aife tried to calm herself, thinking that they were almost here, don't look down, and other things to comfort herself with. The water around them was black, with gross sticky floating plants floating just beneath the water. A few torches on the wall lit their way through the narrow hall.

Aife felt something brush past her leg and she shuddered, holding back a scream.

They turned to the right and then to their left, and found a large doorway. Byrne pushed open the door and gestured her to go first.

The room they entered looked like a very large dome, drawings of fish outlines covered the walls and round blue tiles covered the floor. In the center of the room was a round pool of water, with a navy blue spiral swirling around the rooms floor.

Aife took a step foreword and heard a ringing noise. She froze and looked around. She took another step and heard another ring. She looked down and tapped her foot against the tile, a ringing noise echoed through the room.

She gasped. "Musical tiles..." She whispered.

She tapped the floor again then started moving foreword as she twirled about, dancing to the sound of each ring that went out every time she touched the floor.

She giggled when she saw Byrne raise an eyebrow at her.

"What?" She asked.

He shook his head, while trying to hide his smile. She walked right up to him and stood on her tip toes to see him at a somewhat equal eye level.

"Care to join me?" She whispered right in front of his face, their noses almost touching.

"I'd rather not." He told her, smirking slightly.

She smiled. "Are you sure? It's not often that I ask someone to dance with me." She said.

"Hm, I'd think that I'd rather watch..." He said.

She rolled her eyes and lightly punched his chest.

She moved towards the pool, a ringing noise echoed through the room with every step she took.

"Why do you think this floor rings?" She asked him, staring into the pool.

"I doubt it's for decoration. It's probably there to alarm something." Byrne started walking towards her, his feet making ringing noises, the water in the pool began to quiver.

"Great. Now you've jinxed it..." She told him, moving away from the pool as it started to bubble.

Byrne gave her a confused look and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a loud roar. In the middle of the pool a very ugly creature screamed at them.

The thing had, what seemed like, a million tentacles each one having an eye at the end. It had black scales, similar to the fish, covering it's arms and body. It had an enormous mouth that screeched at them, and inside it was a giant yellow eye that was completely blood shot. Its head ducked back under the water.

"Eew." Aife mumbled as she took a step back, making the floor ring out.

One of its arm things swung itself at her and she jumped over it.

It did this again, and Aife stabbed her sword into it. It jerked its tentacle away and screeched at her as its head popped back up from the pool.

Byrne shot his dark magic at the eye, and it blocked it by bringing its tentacles over its face. But the tentacle that took the hit started to disintegrate and they turned into ash. The creature bellowed in pain and ducked its head back under the water as its arms also went under.

For a second everything was silent, until Aife moved a step.

A single ring echoed through the room and the creature burst from the water and swung all of its tentacles at her.

She was automatically thrown to the side, and landed against the wall, then fell to the floor. She felt tears prick at her eyes from the sudden pain that shot through her arms and side.

Byrne tried to move towards her but the creature swung at him too with all of its arms. He blocked it and they both froze as they tried to force one another back.

Aife raced towards the creature, and with a yell of fury she smashed her sword down on its tentacles.

It screamed and whipped its tentacles away from them, half of them were missing now and a few barely held on.

She smirked. But was knocked to the ground just before she saw its arms start to swing around the room.

Byrne laid on top of her and kept her head covered from the creatures thrashings.

Once it disappeared under the water, Byrne slowly moved off her, he tried to help her stand up but another ring echoed out from their movement and the creature burst from the water.

Byrne growled and let go of Aife as he charged towards the creature.

Aife watched as Byrne launched himself at the creatures open mouth and thrusted his claw, which was covered in dark magic, into its blood shot eye. While his claw was in its eye, he shot out his dark magic and the creature screamed. Byrne was flung off and the creature started whipping its body back and forth as it exploded into black shards.

All the shards froze in mid air then retracted back into the center of the pool, where they formed a black tear. The tear lightly floated above the water and had a dark blue aura.

Aife and Byrne were breathing hard and neither of them moved for a minute.

"Nice one..." Aife said. "Way to take one for the team." She gave him a thumbs up and winked. She started to get up with shaky legs.

He rolled his eyes and stood, then walked over to her to help her stand up properly.

Once she was standing Byrne moved and snatched the tear into his claw.

"Alright. Are you ready to leave?" He asked her as she approached.

"Hell yeah." She said.

He wrapped his arm around her and they were both engulfed in a blue light as the room around them became blurry.

* * *

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A/N: Yay! Done! And I'm over my writers block! ^_^

Oh and the ringing floors are from Phantom Hourglass, also owned by Nintendo.

Srsly... How awesome would it be to have ringing floors? Gah! Now I want some for my room...

Oh and I must credit the fabulous Wingscutdarkness for the 'body heat' scene/idea. ;)

Alright! My advice for you is:

"Always be yourself.  
Unless you can be a unicorn...  
Then always be a unicorn."

(I saw this posted up at this hospitals recipient both... XD And I couldn't resist sharing...)

:/


	15. Chapter 15

Ch. 15... oh my glob... E:

Wow... The end is coming up soon... Awe... Quick! Someone help me think of a cool sequel! ... Oh I jest I jest! There won't be one because... Everyone DIES! Mwhahaha! :P ... Oh I jest... (I would never do that...) ;)

Does anyone have any guesses or ideas on how I'm going to end this? :3 Ideas are welcome. Though I already have my own main idea, it would be greatly appreciated to hear what you people think.  
If not, it's no tragedy. ^^

* * *

Aife felt her head spin as the room around them changed back into the cave where they had left the train.

Byrne made the tear disappear, (sending it to Cole), with a flash of blue, then he opened the door to the train, and jumped inside the it.

He reached down and Aife grabbed a hold of his arms as he pulled her up. Once she was on the train his hand was pressed against the small of her back and he closed the door, forcing her back against it.

He pulled his scarf down and pressed his lips lightly against her own, just barely touching. But the touch was enough to make her shiver.

"To the fire realm?" He asked her in a husky voice.

She nodded. "You guessed it."

He smiled slightly, then moved back to turn and enter the control room.

She followed behind him, and sat on one of the ledges as he busied himself with drawing out their path on a map while moving certain control sticks.

She watched in horror as the train dove into a pool of water, and moved out from the Ocean Temple cave.

She saw fish swim past the window and she shuddered as she saw spiky black ball things floating near them. A deep blue surrounded them and reflected inside the train. She closed her eyes and waited a few minutes, to stop her head from spinning and to stop seeing the water around them. After a minute they were out of the water.

She breathed a sigh of relief. 'Finally done with this place!'

Byrne pulled the train back up and then he looked out the window and frowned.

Aife also looked out and she could see a gold light coming from the temple, heading towards the Tower of Spirits and pulling back another piece of the tower. Only one was left up in the air. Also, on the tracks was the Spirit Train. She gasped as she saw a familiar green hat flickering in the wind.

"Link..." She whispered.

Byrnes eyes widened, looking absolutely furious. He whipped towards Aife.

"That... That child is the one restoring the tracks?" He asked her.

She glared back at him. "You stay away from him. He's only a kid." She told him.

He looked even angrier. "That child is infiltrating with our plans!" He practically yelled.

"Your plans! I am not apart of your desire for power. He's doing the right thing!" She yelled back.

Byrnes eyes filled with rage. "The right thing is not going to keep him alive for very long." Aifes eyes widened and she grabbed his arm as he started to leave.

"Don't you dare hurt him!" She yelled at him.

He shook her off. "Stay out of this." He snarled.

"No! I'm not going to let you hurt him!" She said and blocked his exit.

He raised an eyebrow at her. Then he grabbed her arm and started to drag her down the hall.

She tried to pry his fingers off of her arm, she even tried hitting them but nothing helped.

"Let me go!" She snarled. He shoved her into the passenger cart.

He glared at her and slammed the door shut, locking it with a single click.

"No!" She screamed, slamming her hands against the door and kicking it a few times. "Byrne don't do this!" She yelled.

She heard a familiar sound of him teleporting, and then silence.

"Dammit!" She screamed. "Damn you, Byrne!" She pounded against the door for a while longer, then finally she let her head fall against it.

'Please don't hurt Link...' She willed.

She let out an annoyed, frustrated noise then plopped herself on the nearest seat. Her anger building up inside.

'Don't you hurt him...' She growled in her mind.

:/:

Byrne POV...

A/N: I probably wouldn't have had this scene had I had not replayed Spirit tracks... I was getting the fire realm map and then *BAM* Byrne showed up out of no where and... Stuff... Happened... I had complexity forgotten that part... *ahem* Anyways... Carry on:

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Dammit!" He heard Aife scream trough the door as blue energy pulled him away.

He almost felt bad... 'No. It is better that I deal with that child. Having Cole deal with him would be far more... Traumatic.'

He watched as the blue light surrounding him slowly revealed the Fire Realm maps room in the tower.

He did not like returning here, too many memories resurfaced.

He saw the boy, Link, in green and... Zelda in a ghostly form floating beside him. They slapped each others hands and smiled at it each other, upon finding the new rail map.

Link seemed... Different in a way, almost as if he had become more confident. Almost...

Byrne glared at them. "So this is your handiwork is it?"

The two children gasped and jumped at Byrnes appearance. Links eyes grew wide with a mixture of surprise and fear in them as he looked at Byrne.

"Restoring the Spirit Tracks... Rebuilding this tower... You two were behind it all, weren't you?" He questioned, though he already knew the answer.

He jumped up into the platform they were on, and slowly walked towards them. Zelda flew behind the boy, to shield herself from Byrne, and Link put his arms out to defend her.

Byrne took another step as he spoke. "It didn't have to come to this you know. If you had just minded your own business..." He raised his claw at the boy, who was slowly backing away from him.

"Stop, Byrne." A firm voice called out.

Byrne looked up and past the two children to see Anjean. She rolled up through the door, she looked older and more tired then the last time he had saw her. Link and Zelda also turned to Anjean.

"I always suspected this day would come... Indeed, I had a premonition the day you left the tower..." Link and Zelda both looked at each other then gasped and gawked back at Anjean.

"No matter how many time I corrected your behavior, you never were a very good listener, were you?" She shook her head as she spoke, her eyes closed, disappointed. "You were an unworthy apprentice."

"..." Byrne didn't know what to say, he could only stare back. Something in her words stung, and he flinched inwardly.

"And now look at you. How can I face the Spirits of Good?" She opened one of her eyes to watch him, and Link and Zelda turned to watch him as well. "The Spirits sent us here to continue their work! That you would try and resurrect the Demon King... It's unfathomable to me." Link and Zelda exchanged a glance of surprise.

Byrne hardened his gaze, and felt his expression turn into an unreadable mask.

"I have no wish to continue the work of the Spirits." He said as he moved forward. Zelda and Link flinched back as he moved past them. "Why would I want to serve the spirits... When I can become as powerful as try are? That was the reason I came to study with you..." He walked past Anjean and stood a few feet behind her. "But the spirits never answered. No matter how hard I worked, or how long, they never granted me any more power. Tell me, master..." It almost felt odd to call her that again. "When you realize that your wish will never be granted... What do you do then?" He paused, then turned to face the back of her. "The answer was clear, become even more powerful then the spirits themselves! And the only being more powerful is Malladus." He had already told her of this before, though she never listened.

Anjean sighed. "Your thoughts are twisted. It's obvious that the time for saving you is past. My words would only be lost on you." Her head was bowed, then it snapped up to face Zelda and Link. "Hurry to the Fire Temple, Your Highness. Quickly!"

Anjean forced a light blue magic orb around them, she was going to teleport them away Byrne realized.

Byrnes eyes widened and he moved towards them but was stopped by Anjean who lifted her arm to block him.

"But, Anjean-" Zelda started, worry masked her expression. Byrne turned his hand into a fist, rage boiled inside him. 'How dare she!'

"I will handle this situation." She assured the girl as they disappeared with a final glow of the blue light. Once they were gone Anjean spoke. "Now then..." She turned to face Byrne. "Shall we begin?" She asked him, she had said the same words to him when he would spare with her. She would always beat him of course.

Byrne lifted his chin at the challenge. "Perhaps this time, things will be different." He told her as he raised his gauntlet.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A/N: They fight, Byrne wins, I don't want to write about it :P Not because I'm lazy, (though I can be) but because I'm finding it too difficult to think of how to write it. Don't like it? Deal with it. ;) Or... If someone wants to write this part, go for it. Just PM then, I'd love to read it.

Really, Anjean fighting? Idk, I may write about it later... Maybe... :I

After leaving Anjean crumpled up in the tower he returned to the Demon Train. He had not killed her, a part of him still felt an attachment to her... But he pushed that thought away. The fight hadn't been too difficult, he had grown much stronger without her as his teacher, but part of him felt... Empty. Not from harming Anjean, but from the words she had said to him.

'You were an unworthy apprentice...' Echoed through his mind. It hurt. Though he shouldn't let it bother him so much. But he was more upset about how that child got away. 'Perhaps I'll see him in the next temple...'

He let out a long sigh, he received a few hits from Anjean, nothing serious but enough to make him sore for a few days.

He ran his fingers through his hair as he unlocked the passengers cart door. He just wanted to be near Aife for a while, to forget about his encounter with his old teacher and the painful memories it brought, in her embrace. But, of course, he had managed to piss her off earlier, so he doubted he would get to be with her like normal.

::::::::::::::::::  
Aifes POV.  
::::::::::::::::

She had fallen asleep while Byrne was away but awoke at the sound of a thump behind the locked door.

She stood up as Byrne walked into the room.

"What did you do to them?!" She stomped straight up to him. "If you hurt-"

"I didn't do anything to them." He snarled back. "Anjean," He spat her name. "stepped in before I could do anything." She blinked a few times, figuring out what had happened.

"Then... What did you do to her?" She asked him.

"Hm. That is none of your concern." He told her.

"Ugh!" She threw herself back into the seat and grumbled. "Is she dead?" She asked.

"No."

Aife let out a breath of relief, she may not like Anjean but she wouldn't wish death on her, well, sometimes.

She turned away from Byrne and he stood there and watched her for a moment.

"You're upset." He noted. "Why?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's because you almost tried to kill my only friend?" She snapped at him.

He sat in front if her and frowned.

"What?" She asked him.

"Your... only friend? Do you still consider me to be your enemy?" He asked her, his eyes looked distant.

"Why the hell does that-?" She saw his serious expression, and she felt her own soften, she looked away. "No. I- I don't." She whispered. She wasn't even sure what they were, more than friends... 'But does he think that too?' She didn't even want to guess what they were, whether they were more or less then friends was up to him. She didn't consider him to be the enemy, well, not really. 'But friends don't kiss each other like that...'

He didn't respond. She closed her eyes, loathing the awkward silence.

"Are we close to the temple?" Aife asked finally. She felt the blood drain from her face as she realized that this would be the last temple... Then Malladus would be able to be resurrected. But she was able to hide it by allowing her hair to fall over her face.

"Yes. We'll arrive there shortly." He told her.

She sighed and brought her hands up to rub her temples. 'Damn it...' Byrne stood and started to leave the room.

"I'm still pissed off at you. You should keep that in mind." She told him.

"I'm still aware of that." He told her as he left, leaving the door open.

She rolled her eyes.

A few minutes passed and then the train started to become a lot warmer as they stopped moving. She got up and walked down the hall where she met Byrne opening the side door.

He glanced at her, then jumped out. He reached his hands up towards her, and she jumped and grabbed onto his hands to aid her fall.

She didn't land as gracefully as him and wobbled a bit before Byrne helped steady her. She muttered a quick thanks, and he gave her a nod in return.

She looked up to see the Fire Temple. It basically looked like a giant rock, that was... On fire. It had red/grey smoke and fire balls exploding from the top of it. The air around them was thick and hot, making Aife sweat.

"Mother blood it's hot!" She huffed out. She yanked on her tunic to let some air flow through but it hardly helped.

Byrne ignored her comment and they moved foreword.

She really hated awkward silences. Really. Awkward silences are awkward. She lasted for about ten minutes before she cracked. She didn't even want to be angry at him anymore.

"So, you know what we should do..?..." She was about to make some sort of dirty joke but was cut off by Byrne stopping in the middle of their walk, making her bump into his back. "What?" She asked him when he didn't say anything.

"We forgot the maps..." He groaned.

"You. You forgot the maps." She pointed out. He turned to her and gave her a 'you're not helping' kind of look. "It's not that big of a deal, just go back and get them. I'll wait here." She chirped. "I'm not gonna walk all the way back there." She added.

He rolled his eyes. "Right." He snorted. "You couldn't last here for five minutes on your own." He told her.

She raised an eyebrow at him, and crossed her arms. "Is that a challenge?"

He smirked. "It's a fact." He said.

"No it's not. You're just being a jerk. And I so can survive here without you."

Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow and cross his arm. "Really? Very well. Lets see how long you last without me."

"Hm, you're not scared I'll run away?"

"Oh I didn't say I'd leave you alone, I'll just follow behind you without being seen." He told her.

"Ah. Of course, you need to practice being a stalker, right? Not that you need it or anything..." She heard him sigh, and he started to head back to the train.

"Head down to the lower levels, I'll be right behind you." He told her.

"What if I need the maps?" She asked.

He smirked. "I thought you said could survive without me, that also includes my maps..."

She huffed and spun on her heel to stomp away, grumbling curses upon him and his children's children's.

The temple was far hotter on the inside then the outside, the air was thicker and the fiery red walls and floors didn't help anything either.

She yanked out her sword when she started moving down the long hall in the temple, red pillars stood proudly beside her, and torches hung on the walls. There were also strange bats that were on fire fluttering around in front of her.

With a flick of her wrist, her sword easily cut through them.

"Can't handle myself huh? I'll show you... Mr. I'm so tough I know everything guy." She grumbled and sliced her sword through a red bobble head thing. Blood sprayed across her, though she hardly noticed. "Who does he think he is? 'You won't last here for five minutes without me'... Jerk. I can so survive here without you." She spat and held her chin high as she walked down a flight of stairs.

The stairs were a hard grey stone, and each step she took echoed down to the lower level. She stomped down onto the new floor and saw a cart sitting on a track in front of her. She raised a brow at it, then, from the corner of her eye she saw a,...

"Pot!" She gasped and raced over to it.

(A/N: Alright, Byrne (who is watching her from the shadows, (creepy I know.)) probably just face palmed himself... XP )

She scooped it up and lifted it over head in a dramatic sweeping motion, while making a dramatic theme song. (A/N Cue Link discovery music...) She stared at it for a second then giggled.

"Hello, Mr. Pot!" She chirped. "I'm afraid your face has a meeting with that wall..." She grinned wickedly as she threw it against the wall.

She walked over to the broken pot pieces and picked up the arrows that came from it. She grabbed them and frowned. 'I kind of need a bow...' She took them with her anyways.

Aife cautiously stepped into the crate, seeing how it was the only way to the next part of the room. "Byrne, I swear if this thing hits a dead end or breaks. I'm going to kick your ass from here all the way to the bloody Tower of Spirits." She called out to the seemingly empty room.

She let out a sigh, and when she was fully on the crate, it jerked foreword and started moving at a quick pace. It went straight then looped to the right and on her left she saw four blue eyes watching her.

She shuddered at the eyes, their golden lashes framed the blue made them look far more intense then necessary.

The crate jerked to the right, and moved past the new set of tracks and stopped at the platform she came from.

"Dammit." She muttered. She looked down at the arrows in her hands and an idea came. She pushed the cart and it started to move foreword again.

She watched as the red eyes came into view and she threw an arrow at it.

A miss.

She cursed under breath and threw another.

Miss again.

She felt her eye twitch, and she threw another one much harder and faster this time.

It jabbed itself in the center of the eye, making it turn red, and she fist pumped the air. She quickly threw another one.

Miss.

She sighed and continued going in circles, (she had to go around four times) until she finally hit the last eye and watched it turn red. She let out a sigh of relief as the cart finally turned down the new set of tracks.

The wooden cart creaked as it started to tilt downward, increasing its speed. Her hands gripped the side of the cart as it continued to move faster. She felt a squeal escape her lips and she closed her eyes as her mind screamed a billion curses at once.

The warm air whipped past her, making her hair flutter behind her wildly. She felt herself sink farther down in the crate, and, after another minute, it finally came to a sudden halt.

She felt her body jerk foreword and she hit the front of the cart. She groaned as her body sagged over the edge, the wooden edge digging into her stomach. She stayed there for a minute, allowing her breathing and heart to return to a normal pace, and then she pushed herself up.

With shaky legs she stepped out of the cart, and used it for balance as she stepped out onto the new floor. She let out a shaky breath and cursed at the wooden box that dared to call itself a crate.

She huffed and moved down the hall. There were a few pits of lava that ran along beside her, every now and then shooting up fireballs that fell back into the boiling fire pits.

It was starting to get really hot. She was starting to sweat under her tunic, so she pulled it off over her head and tied it to her waist. Though it hardly helped. She was now wearing her black tank top with her black tights.

She remembered the hair elastic on her wrist and she quickly twisted her hair up in a messy bun. Loose strands flew around her head and swayed around as she continued walking.

Now she just wanted to fight something.

She found a pile of bones lying on the floor. She frowned at them and poked them with her sword. Upon the contact the bones twirled upward and together to form a skeleton.

It bounced in front of her and she yelled out as she swung her sword at it. It jumped away making her miss.

"Damn you!" She snarled and swung, only to miss again.

The skeleton watched her with black pits for eyes, then it started to swing its sword back and forth wildly as it advanced towards her.

She was able to block but it hit her arm, making red spill out.

She smirked. She took two large steps towards it and swung her sword at its head. The head fell to the ground and it bounced around with its jaw flopping open and close.

She stabbed her sword down on it and it exploded into purple smoke, as did the rest of the body.

She lifted her arm to see a thin red line trailing down it. She rubbed the blood away, and it started to sting. She pursed her lips and ignored the warm stinging coming from her arm as she moved foreword.

A few lovely fire bats came to greet her and some more skeletons found her, all were easily disposed of.

She made another turn to the right and in front of her was a large pit of lava covering the entire floor. Round slabs of stone were placed randomly across the lava, she sighed heavily.

She could see the waves of heat wavering above the lava, and she cursed under her breath.

She carefully hopped onto one of the stones. She wobbled a second then, once she was balanced, she jumped onto the next one.

It was much hotter here then anywhere else she had gone in this temple. Sweat matted her forehead and clung onto her arms and neck. It felt like her skin was burning and her blood was boiling with it. She could see clear waves of gas wavering around her.

She jumped onto a few more stones and then she heard a familiar click to her left.

She turned her head and saw an arrow hole thing on the wall.

"Shit!" She cursed and just barely ducked in time to miss the arrow as it whistled over her head.

In a flash she jumped over to the next rocks, hearing more arrows whip out and just barely miss her.

When she finally reached the end of the lava pit, she ended up tripping and falling against the wall. Her foot caught against the edge of the normal stone floor and she fell towards the wall. She was able to stick out her arms to block her head but it hardly helped. Her head hit the wall and she fell onto the ground, landing on her hands and knees.

"Ugh..." She groaned and rubbed her head as she stood up. Her head felt like hell had exploded in it and was now being poked by mean dizzy demons. She rubbed her forehead and looked to her left and started moving towards the new stairway descending deeper into the temple.

* * *

A/N: Sorry to cut it off like this, but I couldn't think of any good cut offs for this chapter.

Oh, does anyone know how to get the Fire Temple stamp?... Anyone at all?

What's your favorite stamp from this game?

;)

-TheMidnightWhisp

...


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen:

A/N: Awe... It makes me kind of sad to think that I'm getting closer to the end... Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited to post up my ideas for the last few chapters but... I've been having so much fun writing this...

So I would like to say, thank you to everyone who viewed/visited, clicked/tapped favorite, followed, and/or reviewed this story. It means a lot to me. :) Heh. You could say 'this news has just filled my heart with rainbows' E: *insert awesome face here*.

...

* * *

It was getting hotter.

To the point where Aife almost felt like her face was on fire. Taping noises came from her feet as she descended down the stone stairs, and she began to wonder where Byrne was.

"Hey, Byrne?" She called out.

Nothing.

She frowned. "Okay... I survived without you. And I'm almost near the tear..." Silence. "Fine. I'll do that by myself too." She grumbled childishly.

She reached the final step and listened carefully for any signs of being followed. Hearing nothing she let out a sigh and moved down the new hall.

This time the walls were black, almost as though they had been burnt, and the hall had barely any light to show her where to go, only a few torches on one of the walls allowed her to see where she was going. The floor felt somewhat sticky and she tried very hard not to think of what it could be. She carefully unsheathed her sword as she slowly moved around the next corner.

She heard a strange sort of clicking noise and froze in her tracks. Her blood grew cold.

"Byrne?" Nothing. "Come on, this isn't funny." Though nothing came back in response, and after a minute of waiting in place, the clicking returned.

She heard a wooshing noise behind her, and it became darker. Her body tensed and she cursed. She slowly turned back to see darkness. The torches along the wall behind her were smoking from being blown out.

"Byrne I swear if that's you I'm going to bloody murder you." She growled and slowly turned to go down to her original destination, or at least where she could actually see.

Her heart was pounding in her chest, and her hands felt sweaty and cold, fear flooded through her as she heard a few more clicking noises, and every time she walked a certain distance from one of the torches, it blew out.

The clicks were growing louder, and she was starting to feel very cold, though, not from the air around her.

Her breathing became more shaky and she decided to stop speaking, in fear of what ever was following could hear her. She swallowed hard and tried to move faster as the hairs on her neck rose. The clicking sounded very close now, the noise echoed down the hall towards her.

She shuddered and moved quicker and she ended up walking into a wall.

"Bugger!" She yelled, 'I've got to stop doing that...' she staggered back slightly to see it was a large door she had hit.

She let out a sigh of relief and quickly pulled the door open, and tugged it shut behind her as the clicking grew louder.

Once she firmly closed the door she let her head fall against it, the new room was perfectly silent.

But it was cold.

She frowned and turned, the room was enormous, it was a dome like shape with a single flame lighting up the room. Though it hardly helped. The orange flame danced on top of a pedestal and a red spiral twirled towards it around the room.

"Shit..." She breathed out, she started towards the flickering light, she was about half way there when she heard something behind her.

*click*

She froze and she heard more clicking echoing through the room and getting louder with each one.

She felt the blood from her face drain completely, and she could no longer move.

"Aife!" Someone screamed, the sudden noise made her jump.

"Byrne?" She yelled back, finding her voice.

She turned towards where she had heard him but something slammed against her body and she hit the ground. The force knocked her sword from her hand.

She made an oof sound, then growled. "Byrne, get the HELL off me!" 'It was him the whole time? Oh, he is so f'ing dead...'

"Aife get up!" He yelled again, though his voice was distant and not close to her as it should have been.

The clicking was right against her ear now.

Her eyes widened and she held back a scream. Something long and sharp pressed against her back and she heard an enormous roar above her. Then something flickered past her ear.

She struggled to push herself up but it only pressed down harder on her. She turned her head and tried to look up.

A large black and scaly dragon creature stood over her. Its skin was a deep red, it had very sharp teeth and spikes poured from its spine. Red and yellow eyes stared down at her, though they looked some what murky.

"Mother blood! Get off me!" She screamed at it.

It growled low in its throat and screamed up in the air.

She looked forward to see her sword a few feet away, and she was able to untangle her arm from under the claw that pressed against her. She reached for her sword and let out a cry as the creature pressed its claw harder against her, making it difficult to breath. Flashes of white danced across her vision.

She could just barely reach it, her fingers brushed against the hilt, and her lungs screamed for more air.

"Byrne!" She called out, her voice sounded strained.

"Hang on!" He yelled back.

She let out another cry as she stretched her arm out, far more then it should stretch out, and was finally able to grab the handle of her sword and pull it back towards her.

She heard a loud crashing noise, as Byrne shot out his dark magic. The dark blue energy lit up the room and burned against the creatures skin. It screamed in pain and its weight on Aifes back loosened just enough for her to roll away.

As she crawled away from under its claw, she was able to pop up and slice her sword through its leg in one swift motion. She cut about half way through its leg, and purplish blood splattered against her.

It let out a piercing scream and whipped its other claw at her. She was flung across the room and she hit the wall. She cried out at the white hot pain that shot through her back, and she crumpled to the floor. Water blurred her vision and she groaned at the pain in her back. She tried to push herself up but her arms started shaking violently.

"Aife!" Byrne called out, she saw his blurry figure race over to her.

He crouched down beside her and tried to help her get up. He was covered in blood and long cuts dragged over his arms. He carefully pulled her by her arms and said something she didn't catch.

"What happened to you?" She asked, staring at the wounds that covered his body.

He shook his head. "I ran into a few... Complications. Nothing serious. But we need to-" He was cut off by a bright light heading towards them.

He cursed and pulled her down with him as he dropped to the floor. She gasped and closed her eyes tightly.

A large fire ball flew over their heads and smashed against the wall with a loud crashing noise. Flicks of fire fell on top of them, as did the stone from the shattered wall, and rocks flew out across them.

The dragon creature screamed at them in rage of missing its target and Byrne lifted his head.

"Move." He commanded, while pulling her up with him. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her with him as he started to run away.

The creature started towards them. Aife stared wildly at it while being dragged by Byrne.

Byrne spun around towards her and wrapped his arms around her, she was about to question what he was doing when everything became blurry in a bright blue light.

Her head spun, and she saw they were still in the dark room. She opened her mouth to speak but Byrne clamped his hand over it.

He brought one of his fingers up to his own mouth and his eyes flickered over to the dragon on the other side of the room.

The dragon had crashed into the wall, and was now shaking its head at the sudden contact, staggering back a little.

It looked around its self in confusion and Byrne pressed his body against her own against the wall, trying to hide them from the creatures peering eyes in the darkness of the room. On a normal occasion she would have made some dirty comment on him pressing her up against the wall. But his hand was still clamped over her mouth, and she was far too distracted by the intensity of his bright golden eyes.

Byrne slowly brought his head down to Aifes, and she felt his lips brush past her ear as he spoke barely over a whisper. She shivered inwardly.

"It cannot see. So it uses its tongue to see by making clicking noises." He whispered, removing his hand from her mouth, as his warm breath trailed along her bare neck.

"We need to cut it off." She told him.

"_What_?"

"If we cut off the tongue then-" She was cut off by a loud shrieking as the large creature whipped towards them. "It won't be able to see us!" She called back as she raced away to the side.

Byrne move away in the opposite direction.

"And how do you propose we do that?" He yelled over, while trying to avoid flaming rocks that were fired at him.

She frowned and thought a moment, then ducked out of the way of a fire ball. "Make it hit the wall again! Then I'll cut it off." She told him.

He nodded and began to taunt the dragon over by shooting sharp orbs of energy at it. Once its attention was on Byrne only, it slowly began to corner him. Byrne jumped out of the way of a flaming rock that the dragon had shot at him and while he was in mid-jump he fired another dark magic orb at the dragon.

The dragon shrieked in fury and charged towards him. Aife raced over beside the dragon as it hit the wall with a loud crash and fell on its side. Its mouth was partially open, so Aife kicked its jaw down farther open and lifted her blade over her head as she brought her sword down towards the tongue.

She just barely cut it when the dragon re-opened its eyes and snapped its mouth shut, making Aife shatter some of its teeth instead.

It screamed and shook its head violently and Aife barely ducked out of the way before she turned and ran from the howling dragon.

She growled. 'So we have to break the teeth then get the tongue?... Fabulous..' She thought dryly.

The dragons mouth was bleeding heavily now. Purplish blood pooled from its mouth, and bubbles appeared when it clenched its jaw and growled.

Byrne moved over to the side of its head to get a better aim at its eye but the creature started clicking and whipped towards him.

The creatures long tail lashed out towards Aife as it turned, making her slam against the wall. She fell to the floor and groaned, blood trickled down her head and down her cheek from hitting the hard stone. Her breathing became more slow, her head started to spin, and she could her the thump of her heart beat pounding through her ears.

She slowly stood up again, and winced at the pain in her chest, letting out a slight cry at the stabbing feeling in her arm and side. The room around her started to spin, and what was happening in front of her became more blurry. She blinked a few times and then let out a long breath and shook off the dizziness and pain in her chest, well, most of it.

Byrne practically danced in front of the dragon, dodging fire, and claw swipes from the enormous beast. All of his movements seemed fluid, as though he hardly had to think about his next moves. He shot out dark magic from his claw and it hit the side of the dragons head, right beside its eye. The dragon shrieked at him and started towards Byrne. He was able to jump away at the last second so that the creature hit the wall, instead of running into him.

Aife quickly raced over to the dragons mouth and slammed her sword against the new set of teeth, ignoring the jabs and protesting from her weary muscles. The sharp bones shattered from the force and the tongue was now visible. Aife was about to thrust her sword in and cut off the tongue when the dragon jerked away, shrieking and whipping its head back and forth at the pain.

It spun its head toward her and screamed. She brought her hands up to her ears and tried to stop the ringing and shrieking inside her head. The scream echoed through the room but Aife could no longer hear. There was only a ringing noise in her head, blocking out all other noises.

She could see Byrne across the room staring at her with wide eyes, he was gripping his side and was leaning onto his left leg. Balls of fire were flung towards him from the holes in the walls, and he barely ducked and dodged the burning rocks.

She stared up at the dragon and gripped her sword in a death like grip. Readying herself for an attack. She let her knees bend slightly, incase she needed to move quickly.

She tried to make her shoulders puff out more to look more intimidating in front of the large creature that glared down at her with blood pouring from its mouth. A sticky line off red trickled down her forehead to her chin, and a single drop of her blood fell silently to the floor.

She focused her mind on creating some sort of energy force to slam against the creature, feeling something warm build up in the center of her palms as she did so.

The creature screamed up into the air then shifted slightly towards her, it was going to charge at her.

Her messy, bloodied hair fell in front of her face and she smiled slightly. The warmth in her palms grew into a silvery light and she brought her palms up towards the creature that ran towards and she released the magic that had built up there. The magic that was shot out forced her back slightly but she managed to hold her ground by moving her right foot back to help support her weight against the force of the magic. The creature, on the other hand, was not so lucky.

The large beam of silver magic smashed against the dragons face, forcing it upwards and stopping it from running into Aife. The dragon was slammed against the nearest wall and fell onto the floor, causing the room to shake.

Aife charged towards it and saw the tongue in its mouth.

She did not hesitate to slam her sword into its mouth and pierce the red flesh, blood splashed up against her cheeks. Once her sword cut through the tongue she sliced it down and deeper into its throat. The creature awoke again from the pain and screamed, making blood spray everywhere.

She was pushed back and she growled. The creature continued jerking its head back and forth, making more blood spill out.

She charged up to it's right leg to cut off its foot, making it stumble foreword all while shrieking its head off. Byrne fired his own dark magic at it and it hit its open mouth.

The creature tried to move back, away from them while screaming and snarling at them.

Aife almost felt bad for being so cruel to this creature, it was, after all, helping the Lokomos guard the tear. But she got rid of that thought and moved towards the creature as it limped away from them, backing up against the wall. 'Just kill it quickly, end it's suffering.' She told herself.

Aife walked right up to it, and as it leaned its neck closer to the ground, she stabbed her sword near the back of its neck and forced it down to leave an enormous gash.

The dragon let out a final cry and its head fell against the ground.

Aife was breathing heavily, and she let her sword drop as she stared at the bloodied creature that lay dead in from of her. She fell onto her knees and stared off into no where.

The dragons body slowly turned black, then exploded into black shards which froze before moving towards the pedestal.

The fire on the pedestal was put out by the black shards and replaced by a floating black tear, with a deep red aura surrounding it. The red spiral on the floor started to glow a deep red as well.

She could hear footsteps moving towards the pedestal, a pause, then they continued towards Aife.

Byrne limped over to her, transporting the tear to Cole as he moved towards the girl kneeling on the floor.

She couldn't believe it. That was the last tear... Now Malladus would be resurrected and they would all be destroyed. And she helped! Her blood turned cold and she wanted to scream, to undo everything, to stop everything and wake up from this dream. Guilt danced around inside of her, making her feel sick.

She closed her eyes and swallowed hard as she stood. She turned towards Byrne who watched her with careful eyes a few feet away. She felt like she was slipping on a mask as she smiled. A cover to block him from seeing her panic about the resurrection.

"Can we leave now? I'm starting to hate this place..." She told him lightly, trying to make her voice some what cheery.

He watched her for a second, and she worried that he was able to see past her mask. But if he did, he didn't let it show.

He nodded and moved towards her.

When he reached his arms around her a light blue light surrounded them as the world started to spin.

* * *

A/N: "She stared up at the credits and gripped her sword in a death like grip." .. Wow... Somebody hates credits. I think I was trying to write creature or something but sometimes my iPod has its own ideas... O.O Stupid autocorrect...

Anyways... *sigh* I'm so sad that the ending is coming up... I've been having so much fun writing this. (I know I've mentioned this before!) Hmm, I just need to start thinking of ideas for my next story... I'm thinking I'll do another gaming one... I'm caught between The Legend of Zelda (Maybe a dark link one! Twilight Princess, or... Maybe Phantom Hourglass... ), Dragon Age 2 (Heehee, Fenris...) or Kingdom Under Fire: Hero's. (Squee! Leinhart!)

Idk. I'm kind of into more of my Legend of Zelda fan side moment so I may do another one about that... *gears spin in head* If I had started writing in February of this year then it would have been Dragon Age 2... Ah, I was so obsessed with that game.. I still am but... You know... LoZ has captured my 'special attention' at the moment. But I will defiantly write some fics about all three of those... Eventually.

Actual I'm going to write a 'one shot' sort of thing about Midna and Zelda... I... I can see the connection they could have... I can see it... :3 I just need to find out some of the dialogue during some scenes... _ Idk... I have a cute idea for them...

Oh, and I'm going to post up some snippets about this one (Demon Tracks)... Like extra cuts or alternative realities sort of thing... A little like, 'what if this happened instead of this?' Or little extra drabbles... And I will be taking requests for that. I already have a few ideas... And some people have already helped me out with it... ;)

I'll explain more when I post it up but if you are interested, just PM me and we'll talk. ^^


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17 Has come at last...

...

_... Long long ago in a galaxy far far away..._

A/N: ... E: I jest I jest! Can you believe they're remaking those movies? I'm not a huge nerdy fan of it but still... Disney? Ugh...

Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda. Sadly. All rights go to respected owners. :P (I haven't mentioned that for a while...)

...

* * *

She closed her eyes tightly and held onto Byrnes shoulder pads as they appeared inside the Demon Train.

She let go and took a step back, pretending as though there was something down the hall that was far more interesting to look at.

"Well, that was... Difficult." She said, finally looking at him. "More difficult then necessary really. Hey. What happened to you?" She asked looking at the claw marks along his arms.

"I told you. I ran into a few complications." He reminded her.

"Which were?" She pried further.

He sighed. "There were a lot of smaller dragon like creatures that caused me to fall behind. Nothing serious." He told her but she still wanted to ask more of it.

"So, you didn't see me run into the walls..." She muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing!" She chirped. "Um, where to now?" She asked hesitantly, already knowing.

He looked away and then turned to the control room.

"The Tower of Spirits."

A slow, sick, dark feeling flooded through her but she wouldn't allow him to see how nervous she was.

"Oh. So... um.. Now will you show me your secret lover that you lock up in that tower?" She asked, smiling wickedly at him.

He rolled his eyes and tried to hide his amused smile.

"You're hopeless." He told her and moved into the control room.

She stuck her tongue at him.

She followed him into the control room, and sat on the ledge, dangling her legs over it.

She watched him move a few joint sticks and scribble over a map as the train slowly started moving.

He seemed upset. She could tell from the way his shoulders were tensed and the way his eyes looked angry and troubled. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but was too much of a coward to do it.

'Why am I being a coward now? Yeesh, I can fight dragons no problem but when it comes to asking a guy what's wrong with them... Oh no, can't do that...' She rolled her eyes and exhaustion started to hit her.

Her body screamed for sleep. Just some regular sleep. In a bed. Not on a chair, in a shaky train. 'When was the last time  
I did sleep in a normal bed?' She didn't really count when she was at Steems house with Byrne. 'Maybe... Two weeks? A little less then that?...' She wasn't sure anymore.

She started to think of all the people she hadn't seen during her time away.

She frowned. It was a little over a week ago that she was getting in trouble for using her magic on a kid from Alfonzo.

'Alfonzo...'

Byrne and him were so different... Alfonzo had this warmth around him, the colors orange red, and brown, seemed to fit him the best. He was strong willed, hot headed, and stubborn. Where as Byrne seemed much cooler. Green, blue and black seemed to suit him. He was graceful, dangerous, and he alway seemed confident in what he did or the way he moved. While Alfonzo would straight out yell at her, his face tuning red, Byrne would give her a cold glare and observe silently. Alfonzo would lecture her about the 'important' rules in combat, and Byrne listened quietly to her random rambling. Plus Alfonzo had extremely naturally tanned skin, while Bynes seemed deathly pale.

Byrne seemed to stand alone in the darkness, while Alfonzo stood out in the light. They were complete opposites. And she wanted to reach out to Byrne at the thought of him being alone in the dark. Just to show him that life wasn't always so... Bad...

'Hm... They would be quite interesting together...' She held back a giggle at the thought, then remembered what did happen when they met. 'Right... Alfonzo basically got pimp slapped...'

She felt her eyes start to droop, and her head started to sag but every time it did she jerked it back up as a reflex and then cursed herself. She felt the train start to tilt upwards and she gripped the sides of the metal ledge she was on. She could see the tower in it's original form. All of the pieces were back together but there were still dark and stormy clouds swirling above it. She felt the slightest glimmer of hope upon seeing the tower rebuilt. But realized soon after on how close Malladus would be brought into this world. 'Shit...'

The train came to a sudden halt and Byrne turned to her.

"Let's go." He told her.

'... Why is he so fricken tense?'

She bit her lip and nodded, following behind him as he moved out of the control room and opened up the door to leave the train with his dark magic.

He jumped out first and reached up to Aife. She carefully lowered herself down and allowed Byrnes hands to help support most of her weight.

For a second his hands lingered on her waist but were removed quickly after she noticed. She wasn't sure what to make of that.

Her body felt sore. Now that she was moving more she could feel her tight muscles pulling each other and screaming at her to stop moving.

She turned at the sound of metal screeching and watched in horror as the Demon Train moved away from the tower and raced away.

She blinked a few times after it, then shook her head and followed Byrne down the stairs.

"Do not go to the top of the tower for any reason." Byrne commanded.

"Why?"

"Cole is up there. And he cannot be distracted right now. Do not go near him." Byrne warned

She glanced back and up the stairs, 'Hm, so he's up there resurrecting Malladus... Wouldn't that be kind of hard with a spinning, broken tower?...'

Her and Byrne wondered into a larger doorway, one that had gold stained glass around the entire frame.

The room they entered, she remembered, was the training floor. There was a large ring in the middle of the round room, raised above the ground with eight blue pillars along the edge of it. The ring had diamond like shapes on it, blue being the main color but there was also some shadings of deep pink and purple. The room itself had spiral like patterns on the walls with brown polka dots scattered on the floor. The large golden entrance allowed a faint gold shading along the rooms walls.

"We should spare here some time." She mentioned to Byrne.

"Hm." Was his only response.

'Why are you being such a jerk?' She wanted to scream at him and ask him what the hell was going on but said nothing.

...

Byrne led her down a few more flights of stairs and then opened a plain stone door and gestured for her to enter.

"So is this where you lock up all of your visitors?" She asked as she entered the dark room.

He walked in behind her and closed the door.

"No. This use to be my room." He told her, lighting up some candles.

His room was round with deep blues and greens painted on the wall. She could see a frame for where there use to be a mirror beside the double sized bed. He had a single window, which was covered by thick brown drapes, and a ton of books lined up neatly on a few rows of shelves.

Aife walked right up to them and tried to read the strange lettering along the spine of the books.

"Wow," She turned to him. 'Did he read all of these?' "Would you read to me some day?" She asked. "I don't think I've ever seen so many books..." She trailed off, gazing up to see more shelves stacked with books. Some of them looked old and torn, the leather was cracked and the spine was wrinkled, while others looked like they had never been touched. She would love to hear him read to her... Even if the book was terrible...

He wondered across the room and opened up the drapes.

"Do you not know how to read?" He asked.

"Of course I do!" She told him defensively.

"Hm." He mused. A silent pause passed them before Byrne spoke up. "There is a wash room across from my own, if you need it. But do not wonder anywhere else. The phantoms are not as welcoming to those with pure hearts as they were before." He warned her.

She turned to him. "You think my heart is pure?" She asked.

He stared at her for a moment. "I know your heart does not seek out dark intentions." He said.

She stared into the golden pools in his eyes, unsure what to make of that. 'You have a pure heart too.' She wanted to tell him. 'Though you can't see it, I can see the brighter side in you...' She wanted to tell him that so badly. But she knew that that would only make things worse. She looked away and mumbled a quick thanks and he started to leave but tossed his gauntlet to the side before leaving.

"I'm going to see Cole. Stay here." He told her firmly as he closed the door behind him.

She sighed and her hands became slightly shaky from the sickening feeling in her gut. 'Why is he acting like this? I thought we were past the awkward guardedness?' She wondered if this was the point where they would go separate ways. 'Then why was he being so... So caring after I had almost drowned..?' She sighed again. 'Perhaps he was faking it...' That thought made her sad and a little sick.

She shook her head and placed her sword beside the wall and left the room. She wondered over to the door across from her.

Something like metal scraping against metal echoed down the hall, she looked to her right to see a phantom walking towards her. She froze. The phantom noticed her and raised it's sword and rushed towards her. She let out a squeal and pushed herself into the new room and slammed the door, locking it with a click of the handle as she heard the phantom slam against the door.

She let out a shaky breath. 'Stupid phantom...' She shook her head again and raked her fingers through her hair to loosen some of the knots.

The room was a simple white wash room, the large tub in the middle of it seemed very very welcoming. She turned the taps in the tub on and water drained from them, the room started to become more and more steamy as the hot water rushed out.

She stripped her clothes off and was about to move into the tub when the mirror to her side caught her attention.

She stared at the reflection. A girl with messy dirty blond hair stared back, faint cuts, and bruises trailed up her legs to her arms and there was something different about her eyes.

They were the same brown with faint rings of gold in them but the way they looked was different. They looked more determined and fierce, making her look older, like she had aged slightly over the past week. She hadn't really paid attention to her appearance while she was traveling with Byrne, and the girl in front of her almost seemed like a stranger.

She almost missed that Aife. Or at least... She almost missed how carefree her life use to be. 'But... Maybe... It will be able to go back to how it use to be? That is... If I can stop Malladus...'

She moved closer to the mirror and stared intently at the girls face. Aife closed her eyes and let out a shaky sigh before moving into the tub.

The warm water engulfed her and soothed her muscles, helping to untie the knots in them. She reached over and grabbed a bar of white soap and began to scrub every inch of her body, feeling grossed out of the dirt that had built up on her.

She scrubbed her scalp and worked on cleaning her neck and hair the most. And when she was finally finished cleaning off the dirt on her skin, she closed her eyes and leaned back on the side of the tub. Not wanting to ever leave, and ignoring that soon she would have to fight the King of the Demons. Or maybe, even Byrne as well, if Cole so commanded it. 'Would he though? Would Byrne obey Cole if he ordered him to kill me?' He had told her before that he wouldn't let that happen, but now she was having her doubts. 'Would that be why he was acting weird?' She closed her eyes and slowly brought her head under the water for a second before she shook her head, and got of the tub while pulling the plug to drain the dirtied water. She grabbed a near towel and dried herself off.

Aife quickly redressed and walked out of the steamy room. She raced across the hall and into Byrnes room, trying to avoid any phantoms that may be lurking around the halls.

Byrne wasn't there. 'That's... Strange... He should be done talking to Cole...' She knew that Byrne had strictly warned against even going near Cole, or else he would kill her in a second, or at least, she assumed he would.

She sighed and left Byrnes room. 'Maybe he's just in the training ring.' She started down the hall, leaving her sword in Byrnes room.

He was acting so guarded today, sort of like how he use to be... She wasn't sure what to make of it. She thought that maybe they would... She didn't really know, be... Together? Maybe? But at the moment that almost seemed impossible. She didn't like that feeling. She really liked Byrne. Then to have doubt slip in and ruin it all, sucked. 'Goddess. Why does he have to be obsessed with power and working with Cole?' That was the major problem they had. 'But after my near drowning experience... He... Acted like he cared... Or, like he no longer cared for power...' She shook her head. 'Stop thinking about it...' Her mind growled.

But she couldn't help it. She liked him. Really, liked him. But she found him so frustrating at times... It... Bugged her that they had to be on opposite sides.

She let out a long heavy sigh as she entered the training ring floor. No one was there. She decided that he must still be talking with Cole. He wouldn't go downstairs in fear of Anjean finding him.

She walked across the room and started up the stairs leading up to the top of the tower. It was very windy outside, and the clouds above were dark and swirling over the tower. Her hair flew around her wildly and she brought her hands up to help hold it down so she could actually see the stairs.

She could hear faint voices as she edged closer near the end of the stairs but not close enough to be seen, she peeked over the edge to see Cole floating over Zelda's body on the large stone tablet, the black tears floating around her, and Byrne stood beside Cole. She strained to hear what was being said.

She couldn't catch the last thing Cole muttered as he let out a long, annoyed sigh.

"It's time to dispose of that brat now. Byrne, get rid of her. We no longer need her and she'll only get in the way later." Cole told Byrne nonchalantly.

Aife held her breath waiting for his response, part of knew he would never agree. Though he wouldn't let Cole know that. She watched Byrne carefully. Knowing she would be able to see something to indicate that he would never.

"Of course." Byrne nodded. "She was only a tool after all." He told Cole in a way that suggested he wouldn't have it any other way.

Something in her throat caught, and her heart skipped a beat as the blood in her face drained. Byrne started to turn to leave.

"And, Byrne?" Cole called, Byrne stopped moving, half glancing at Cole. "I want to see the body." He added.

Byrnes expression revealed nothing. As though he couldn't care less.

"Of course." Byrne said, not caring one bit.

Aifes eyes widened, and she quickly raced down the stairs. Her heart pounding in her ears as she rushed down the stairs in panic, tears building up.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.:::::::::

A\N: Hah! Cliff hanger! Mwhahahaha. Now she's going to fight Byrne... :) *hides in closest from glaring from readers*

... oh! Fine! No cliffhanger for you! The next chapter would have been too short if I had it cut off, so you're lucky... This time.

:Warning: 'Bam' fluff is coming up. For this (con.) chapter and maybe the next... ;) ... If you're not into that sort of fluff thing then skip this part. Or if you're just a kid... You should probably skip it too... (I don't want to scar anyone...)

*shrugs* You've been warned.

Oh and remember while you're reading this that this fiction is rated T and not M for a reason... (Just keep that in mind...)  
*ahem* Carry on.

...

She shouldn't have gone back into Byrnes room. But she didn't want to leave her sword here, or face the phantoms. Plus, she would probably get lost in the tower, considering, she didn't even know which floor she was on.

She stopped near the end of the book shelf, beside the window, and closed her eyes. 'Lair!' Her mind screamed. 'Everything he said was a lie!... No... He wouldn't kill me. Not after everything we've been through...' But doubt swirled through her mind. She thought that she, maybe, had influenced his power hungry mind but now she wasn't sure. 'He told me he wouldn't let 'Cole' kill me... Ugh, dammit! Maybe this is why he was acting so strange...'

She heard footsteps echoing down the hall and her body became tense and her heart picked up its pace.

The door to his room creaked opened then it closed, and the lock clicked in place. She heard him walk up behind her. Her body froze, waiting for... She didn't know, maybe he would just hit her across the head and end it quickly? Or would he use dark magic to finish her off?

'Maybe he'll stab me with a sword or-?' Other morbid thoughts ran through her mind but were cut off.

She felt his arms snake around her waist, and her body became even more tense as he rested his head against the side of her neck, he let out a long, annoyed, heavy sigh.

"Why are you so tense?" He whispered into her neck.

She bit her lip, she was sure he could hear her heart as it slammed itself against her chest, screaming at her to get away.

"I- I heard you and Cole..." She finally got out in a shaky voice. 'Might as well get it out...'

"Did you now?" He asked.

"I know... That you have to... Get rid of me..." She said as she swallowed hard.

He turned her around to face him. She avoided his gaze and he pulled his scarf down.

"Look at me." He commanded softly, she refused so he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. "Do you truly think that I am going to kill you?" He asked her.

She bit her lip again.

"I'm not sure." She finally told him, her heart pounding in her ears and blood rushing in her head. He released her, and cocked his head slightly to the side.

"Do you want to find out?" He asked.

She closed her eyes, 'Dammit it all to hell!' she thought, and nodded. "Make it quick." She told him, tears building up.

"Hmm, very well." He murmured, in a tone that sounded a little bored.

She held her breath, waiting for the final blow.

"Relax. It'll be easier for you." Byrne told her, though it didn't help.

Her mind started cursing and she closed her eyes tighter. Part of herself was screaming at her to fight, move, do anything but give up. But another part of her felt far to betrayed to even care.

She heard him sigh again, and then felt something press lightly against her throat then it slid slightly to the side.

Her eyes flew open upon the contact, and she gasped. At first she thought it was a dagger but she saw his face move from her neck, his tongue pulling back from flickering against her skin. His golden eyes flickered towards her own and she was about to speak but was interrupted as his hands flew up to either side of her face as he kissed her hungrily.

Her heart slammed against her chest and her eyes fluttered closed, trying to hold back tears. She brouht her hands up to his chest, and he wrapped his own around her protectively, one slowly moved down her back to force her even closer to his body, while the other had a firm grip on the back of her neck. He pried her mouth open and she kissed him back with the same intensity.

He pulled back from her all to quickly.

"Does that answer your question?" He asked her.

She licked her lips and nodded, running a shaky hand through her hair.

"Then why are you still nervous?" He asked, wrapping his arm tighter around her, while reaching up with the other one to wipe away the water from her eye.

"I don't know." She barely whispered, his hand cradled her cheek.

"Please relax."

"You scared me." She told him, her eyes flickering away to avoid his intense gaze.

He lifted her chin to look into her eyes.

"I will never hurt you." He told her, even in the dark his gold eyes were intense. Though his voice was soft, it a had a certain firmness to it that she knew that he meant what he said.

She closed her eyes again, and let out a shaky breath. "...Alright."

He hugged her into his chest and kissed her neck, making her quiver. He brought his mouth down to her shoulder, then to her collar bone where her breath hitched.

"Byrne..." She breathed out as she clutched his shoulders.

He chuckled softly. "Yes?" He asked innocently.

She swallowed as his lips slowly trailed back up to her lower jaw.

"Stop teasing me." She growled at him.

He smiled darkly. "As you wish."

In a flash he whipped their bodies onto the double sized bed, his on top of hers. She gasped and he carefully leaned against her.

"Is this better?" He asked sweetly.

"No." She growled, feeling blood rush to her cheeks. "Get off me."

"Hmm, I don't think I will."

"Jerk."

He chuckled and bent down to kiss her again.

She tried to pull away but he wouldn't let her. So she gave in and kissed him back, after a minute she bit his lower lip in a playful manner. He gasped, then growled low in his throat. She smiled at that.

"Are you sure you want to start this, Aife?" He asked her darkly, hunger in his eyes.

She giggled, and carefully trailed her fingers over his scars. "Start what?" She asked in a fake innocent voice.

(A/N; No. I know what you're thinking. And no. That is not happening. Trust me! I would have warned you if... Well.. You know...)

He smiled darkly and bent down to kiss her neck. Her body stiffened as he let his tongue trail up her throat, slowly, making her gasp and let out a whimper as she gripped the back of his neck. He brought his mouth to her ear and nibbled the lobe, then he bit it. She felt her back arch as her entire body trembled.

"Damn you..." She muttered, but he only chuckled.

She let her fingers graze over his lips, his cheeks, where he turned his head and kissed her hand, she smiled and let her hands trail through his hair. She heard his breathing deepen and he bent down to kiss the thin scar on her neck. He let his tongue flicker lightly against it.

She turned her head to catch his mouth and she kissed him forcefully. She wrapped her hands around his neck and brought his head closer. His hands ran through her hair, over her sides and gently caressed her back. A slight moan escaped her lips, and she trailed her mouth down to his lower jaw, to his neck, and then she nibbled his collar bone. He let out a soft moan, and she started to play with the end of his shirt.

He took the hint and was somehow able to lift it over his head to tug it off. She trailed her fingers over his bare chest, up to his throat, and he snatched her wrists and forced them over her head as he pressed closer to her.

"Your turn..." He whispered. She gasped as she felt his entire body grind against her own. He kissed her more hungrily now, and she easily returned it. His hand slipped under her own shirt, and she reached down, with shaky hands, to pull it off, as did he. Byrne made an annoyed noise when he realized she also had a tank top on as well. He helped her with that as well, and when it was finally off all she could feel was how warm his skin felt against her own, his chest was hard and tough from years of training and building muscles.

He pressed his lips lightly over her heart, then returned back to her mouth. He kissed her ear and let his tongue trail over it a few times, making her entire body quiver as shivers ran along her spine, and she let out a soft moan. He growled as she trailed her hands along his sides, every now and then teasing him by trailing them down just to his hips then back up again.

He then trailed his own hands along her sides, stopping just at her hips to push down on them and then pull them up towards his own. He nibbled her neck, his teeth lightly grazing over her skin, making her gasp. His fingers looped around the edge of her tights, asking for permission. When it wasn't denied he began to pull them off, and she pulled off his own too. Once they were finally kicked off, rather awkwardly, Aife wasn't sure if she was shaking from fear or excitement. Probably both, the adrenaline of having him so close to her, the heat coming from his body and breath, the smell of his skin, just feeling him. But she only had her undergarments on now, and she felt exposed.

He trailed his hand down to her thigh and lifted it up so that it cradled his own hip.

"Byrne..." She whimpered when he bent down to her neck again.

He lightly kissed her neck. "It's okay," He breathed. "I... I'm not going to force you into anything you are not ready for..." He placed both his arms to rest beside her and lifted his head to stare intensely into her eyes. Even in the darkness his eyes were still just as bright as always. She nodded, and wrapped her arms around him and he brought his lips back to hers.

They stayed like that for a bit longer until Aife slowly edged her tongue near his mouth. She felt his breath hitch and felt his own body become tense as she pulled away to gingerly kiss his scars. She lightly brought her tongue over it, tasting the salt on his skin, and she felt him tremble and moan at her touch.

"Aife..." He started.

She made a noise of questioning as she lightly kissed his eyelids.

"I..." He sighed angrily, "Is briá liom tú." He whispered into her neck, his voice husky and strained.

"What does that mean?" She asked him.

He shook his head, his soft hair tickling her neck.

"Please?" She asked.

He sighed again, and she felt his body completely relax against her own. "I will tell you... When you go to sleep. But I do not want you to responed. Not yet." He told her.

"Why is that?" She asked, completely confused.

He kissed her throat lightly. "Because, mo ghrá go, you are not ready yet."

She smiled slightly. "Are you calling me rude names now?" She questioned.

He chuckled. "I can I assure you I would do no such thing... Within your range of hearing." She punched his chest lightly.

He smiled down at her, the sight was breath taking, seeing him really smile. He scooped her into his arms so that they were snaked around her in a protective embrace. She sighed happily and kissed his cheek in response. He moved his head to nuzzle it against her neck.

She wanted to tell him how much she cared for him. Then and there she should have, but she had no idea it would be her last chance. Those three words caught in her throat, and she cursed herself for being such a coward.

Byrne buried his face deeper into the space between her neck and shoulder, breathing in her warmth.

"Fhaigheanne tú boladh deas." Byrne murmured, pressing his lips against the crook of her neck.

She smiled, and a shiver ran along her spine. "What does that even mean? Are you being mean, again?" She asked. "You know, one day I'm going to learn that language, and figure out what you're saying." She told him. "What language is that anyways?" She asked.

He chuckled "Téigh a chodladh. Perhaps, I'll tell you one day, ..." He added.

"Mleh. I'll figure it out, eventually... And tea and chocolate do not go together by the way." She added and yawned.

He gave a soft chuckle. "Are you tired?" He whispered.

She shook her head

"Liar." He whispered.

He positioned himself beside her and tucked her into his chest so that they laid facing each other on their sides.

She smiled, and wrapped her arms around his neck. He snaked one of his arms under her waist, and let his free fingers gently trace her side, then curve around to trail over her spine.

She nuzzled her head into his neck and breathed in the warmth coming from his skin. She lightly played with his soft hair as he rested his cheek against her own and trailed his fingers lightly over her back. Byrne pulled up one of the soft blankets and slowly brought it over them.

"Why were you acting so... Upset earlier?" She asked him.

There was a pause.

"I was... Tense, about dealing with Cole because I knew the topic of you would be brought up." He sighed into her neck. "I'm sorry for acting as I did. I just... couldn't risk Cole seeing through me." He said as he caressed her bare back, running his fingers over her spine, making her spine arch slightly as shivers ran along it.

She sighed in relief. "It's okay." A moment of silence passed by them and she nuzzled closer to him. "Goodnight, Byrne." She whispered, taking in the warmth from his bare skin, the soft blanket, and the heat of his hands splayed out on her back.

"Good night, mo ghrá go." He whispered back.

She felt herself starting to fade, as sleep started to take her, her muscles finally giving in to sleep.

And she finally felt at peace. Completely ignoring what was going to happen tomorrow. Or rather, forgetting about it. Only focusing on the warmth of his body around her and the sound of his heart beat drumming lightly beside hers.

She felt more of herself start to drift off, as she finally fell asleep with Byrne holding her.

:::::::: Byrnes POV ::::::::

Byrne felt the girl in his arms body relax completely as she fell asleep. Something about it made him smile.

A moment passed and Aife shifted and turned to face the other side. He smiled and hugged her closer as they spooned. Her skin was soft and warm, and he took great comfort in knowing that she trusted him and knew that he would not harm her. The way she had looked when she thought he was going to kill her was heart breaking.

Cole was wrong. He could still keep her and gain the power he deserved from Malladus. It would work out he told himself.

He let his head rest in her soft, curly, and some what damp hair, and finally whispered what he had spoken before, in a different language, to her.

"I love you." He whispered.

It felt good to say it our loud, even if she didn't actually hear it.

He kissed her bare neck again. "My love..." Something in his chest swelled at the thought that she belonged to him as he belonged to her. Never had he felt like this before, he had never wanted anyone this much before. He wanted her. He wanted every part of her, every smile, every touch... He wanted all of her. And he would easily give every part of himself for her, every part of his being, his affection, his life, he would give it all to her. But he did not want tell her quite yet.

He feared that it would scare her if he told her or she would not... Want to hear that. He wasn't sure. He just wasn't ready to handle her response just yet. 'Coward.' He thought. But he couldn't help it. The slightest thought of her rejecting him was unbearable.

He shook it out of his head, and pulled her closer in his embrace. 'Absolutely beautiful.' He thought of the sleeping girl in his arms, who, he could now call his own as she could for him... If she wanted too.

But he let all those thoughts of doubt drift away as he fell asleep, listening to the sound of their hearts beating the same rhythmic tune, and breathing in the intoxicating scent from her skin. And for once, he felt at peace, like, for the first time ever, things were finally going his way. That things would be okay from now.

::::::::::::::::;::::::::::;:::::::.:::::.;:;;.;,,;::;::::::::;.;:.;;..:.::.:...::::::.:.:.:;.:.:.:.:.;

* * *

A/N: I made Byrne use Irish. 'Cause I have some Irish blood... And I wanted him to be able to speak in a different language. :P

What? You can't understand what he's saying? Well then...:

Fhaigheanne tú boladh deas - You smell nice.

Téigh a chodladh - Go to sleep.

Mo ghrá go - My love.

Is briá liom tú - I love you.

...

There, happy now? He said it.

What? That changes everything you say?  
What's that suppose to mean?!

... Tea and chocolate... X3 Bad translating is bad.

So yeah... I'm going to hang out in my closet for a bit... *closes door slowly* ;)

Gosh, this chapter is long... Oh well, I'm happy the way it turned out. ;) (I'll go on an editing hunt later, so ignore my drunken typos and let me know if you find any...) ^_^

3 -TheMidnightWhisp


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter. 18

A/N:

No. 9001...

It's over 9000! La gasp! What 9000?! Duuuu duuuu duuuuun

"This is madness!"  
"Madness? ... This iS SPARTAAAA!" *kicks over lamp* (oops...)

Teehee...  
Yeah. I'm really tired... (^_^)'

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:^:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:

* * *

When Aife woke up she was about to stretch but something was restraining her. She then remembered the sleeping boy beside her, or rather, who was embracing her.

She must have moved in the night to sleep on her stomach because Byrne was half lying on top of her back. She smiled at how he seemed protective of her even while he was asleep, and at how warm his hands were around her bare waist. She could feel his even breaths tickle down her neck, and the warmth of his skin pressed against her back. She looked behind herself to look at Byrne. His hair was out of his ponytail so that it splayed around him, stray strands fell over his face, and on her neck, and his expression looked very peaceful. She had only ever seen him once with his hair down, and she liked it. It made him look slightly different, almost as though it showed another part of his character in a way, but attractive all the same.

She wished she could have stayed like that, resting peacefully with Byrne holding her, hearing his peaceful breathing, and feeling the faint pulse of his heart. But once she thought that she remembered what was going to happen today. Which was going to destroy everything.

She closed her eyes tightly as her stomach started to feel sick.

Slowly she was able to slip out of Byrnes embrace without disrupting him. She was now sitting up beside him. She glanced down to see she was only in her underclothing and felt her cheeks grow warm.

She pulled her knees up and rested the side of her head on them to watch Byrne. She tugged up the blanket around her to keep her exposed skin away from the chilly air. She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the fact that Malladus would be brought back and people were going to die because of her. 'What if something happens to Byrne?' She wondered and she swallowed back the lump in her throat.

She opened her eyes and watched his back rise and fall with every breath he took. He was lying with his chest flat on the bed, and his head was turned to her. His dark hair now covered most of his face. 'No. Nothing will happen to him. He'll be alright. We'll make it out of this.' She tried to convince herself but it hardly helped.

She reached out slowly and moved some strands of hair from his face, her fingers lightly caressed over his cheek and his eyes slowly opened at the contact.

His eyes flickered up to her and she smiled at him, while tucking his hair behind his pointed ear.

There must have been something off about her expression because a worried look over passed over him.

"What's wrong?" He asked urgently, pushing himself up.

"I- nothing. I'm fine." She told him. Though she was starting to shake slightly.

He frowned, he obviously didn't believe her. So he sat up and pulled her into his chest, so that he was cradling her. His huge arms wrapped around her and his crossed legs created a bowl like shape that she easily fit into.

"Aife?" He asked softly.

She bit her lip, and closed her eyes, shaking her head. She couldn't speak in fear of breaking down completely.

"It'll be okay." He whispered, kissing her cheek. "Please don't worry, mo ghrá go, I'll keep you safe." He said.

"What about you?" She whispered back.

He pressed his lips against her closed eye lids, and rubbed her back. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." He reminded her.

"That's not good enough." She told him. "Promise me you won't put yourself in harms way." She turned to stare deeply into his eyes to make sure that he would take this seriously, '... When does he not take things seriously?'

He shook his head. "Only if you make that same promise."

She nodded, and brought her forehead to press it against his own. But none of his words helped the sickening pit that grew inside her.

He moved his mouth closer and kissed her. He tugged at her lips until she kissed him back.

They broke apart after a minute and she leaned into his chest as he rested his head on top of hers.

"Did you still wish to spare?" Byrne asked after a moment.

She was a little surprised at him for bringing that up.

"Is that a challenge?" She asked.

She could hear him smile.

"For you it will be." He told her darkly.

She punched his chest and twisted herself so that she was able to push him down, while forcing herself on top of him.

She pinned his wrists down by his head.

"I will kick your ass." She growled.

He laughed. The noise surprised her, she had only ever heard him chuckle... But hearing him laugh was breath taking. Even if he was laughing at her.

She rolled her eyes and removed herself off of him. He laid there, with his hands behind his head, and watched her while she gathered up her clothes.

She pulled on her tights then looked up to see Byrne watching her with appreciative eyes.

"Don't look at me like that." She said, as she crossed the room to grab her shirt.

"Like what?" he asked.

"Like..." She started as he stood up and walked towards her.

She held back a girlish giggle at how sculpted his chest muscles were... His chest being fully exposed as he moved towards her. Her eyes finally moved up to his own, and she smiled. 'So that's what one hundred years of training does...'

"Yes?" He asked.

"Umm..." 'What was I going to say? Damn his chest...' She sighed. "Can you put a shirt on? Your chest is being very distracting." She mumbled. 'Stupid giant chest...'

He smiled crookedly as he grabbed his shirt and threw it on over his head.

She watched from the corner of her eye as he pulled his shirt on and she pulled her own shirts on.

She grabbed her sword as he finished putting on his pants and readjusting his gauntlet.

Once they were decent he unlocked and opened the door, then guestured her to go first.

"Ladies first." He said, pulling his hair up into a ponytail.

She rolled her eyes "Why, thank you." She said in a dramatic voice bowing her head slightly.

She walked down the hall a bit and saw a phantom turn the corner. She cursed and turned back and started towards Byrne.

"Let's go a different way, shall we?" She asked, moving past him.

He looped his arm around her waist and pulled her with him by grabbing her arm.

"They won't bother you as long as you're with me." He told her as he pulled her along.

"Yeah, I don't know about that." She watched the phantom walk past them, completely ignoring their presense. "I think that one was glaring at me... I can- I can see you doing that!" She yelled back at the phantom, who was completely oblivious to them. She heard Byrne let out a sigh.

He continued pulling her arm as they started up the first flight up stairs.

"What are you doing?" Aife asked, gesturing to his hand pulling her arm.

He frowned. "I... am escorting you."

She laughed, 'Awe...' "Listen, escorting is not the same as dragging. Here," She moved her arm so that it looped around his own in an old fashion like manor. "-thats how you escort someone." She told him. She had no friggen idea if that was true or not but didn't really care 'It can be escorting in my world!'.

He gave her a strange look.  
"I think I prefer 'dragging' you."

"Of course you do." She muttered, to which he only chuckled at.

The walked up another flight of stairs, and another.

"Fifty-three." Byrne said as they finished the second flight of stairs.

"What?"

"We've gone up fifty-three stairs, have you not been counting?" He asked, smirking.

"No... I mean, yes, yes I have been. But... now I've lost count because of you."

He snorted and they finally reached the training room.

Aife released Byrnes arm and he walked up ahead of her, onto the ring. He lifted his gauntlet up towards her as she too entered the ring.

"Show me your stance." He commanded.

She bit her lip and pulled out her sword. She had her body slightly turned away from him, and tried to remember what Alfonzo had taught her.

"No." Byrne said.

"What? What do you mean 'no'?"

He sighed and walked up to her.

"Are you trying to break your wrists?" He asked as he grabbed her wrists.

"Of course not! This is how I've always done it." She complained.

"Keep your wrist firm and straight, having them bent like that will break them." He told her, forcing her wrists to be straight.

His hands moved to her lower back and stomach.

"Back straight." He commanded. He moved behind her and brought his foot over to her own and started to push her legs apart. "Keep your legs spread. And your knees unlocked." He told her in his husky low voice.

She blushed slightly at his touch.

She opened her mouth to speak but he gave her a silent glare and she closed her mouth. Swallowing her smart ass comment.

"Alright. Hit me." He commanded, holding out his arms.

She gaped at him for a second.  
"Are you serious?"

He glared. "I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't."

She sighed and swung with all her strength at him. "You know  
You don't have to mean about it." She told him but he ignored her.

In a flash he whipped his gauntlet to block then he pushed her sword back.

"Faster." He commanded.

This time she tried slashing her blade to the left, aiming for his side but he moved and grabbed her blade, then he moved right up to her.

"You're going to have to be a lot quicker than that." He told her.

"Ugh!" She yelled in frustration, and whipped her blade over to hit his other side, to which he easily blocked.

"Again." He commanded.

So, growling in annoyance, and muttering a few curses, she slashed her blade over, hoping to hit his chest. But he caught it and stopped it an inch away from hitting her original mark.

"We are suppose to be sparing, you're not suppose to be acting like my mentor." She told him. 'Though he would be a very sexy mentor...' She tried very hard to keep her expression serious with that thought.

"Hm. Very well." He slashed his claw at her and she quickly flicked her blade to block. "Don't bend your wrists." He reminded her and she snarled at him and whipped her sword around to hit his arm, being self conscious about her wrists.

He jumped away in a single fluent motion.

"You suck." She told him, he lifted an eye brow at that.

She moved forward and sliced her sword through the air, aiming for his side again. But he jumped to the other side, dodging her sword while moving around to get behind her. He grabbed her arms and pinned them behind her back, and she almost dropped her sword.

"You were saying?" He asked darkly in her ear, his breath tickled down her neck.

She shivered inwardly. "Let go." She demanded.

He chuckled and she felt his claw trail up her back, in a very sensual way, and snag on her bra clasp.

She gasped as she felt her bra become loose. Byrne released her and took an extra big step back as Aife whipped her sword around to him.

He chuckled and she growled at him.

"You jerk!" She yelled as she continued trying to break through his defense.

He only laughed at her and continued bouncing away from her swings. They continued their strange dance for a while longer, he would laugh and dodge her attacks and she would yell at him in curses and other things as she tried to find the holes in his defense.

Finally she cornered him against a pole and brought her sword to his neck.

She glared at him, loathing his amused eyes. "You let me win."

He chuckled. "I thought you wanted me to go easy on you?"

She pulled back and started towards the golden doors, working on re-clasping her bra. "You suck." She muttered again as she walked in the doorway.

"Don't go up there." Byrne warned her.

She smiled back at him.

"Oh? And what are going to do about it?" She said, taunting him.

His eyes widened and then he glared. "I might just drag you back."

She was edging closer to the stairs, and she leaned against the side of door frame. "Ooh, and then what?"

"Keep moving and you'll find out." Though his tone was commanding her to stop.

'Mmm, kinky...' But she only smiled at him as she jumped onto the first step.

Byrne ran his hand through his hair and then started towards her.

"Do you have a death wish?" He asked as he walked up to her.

She shrugged. "Just seeing what you would do." She told him.

"Heh. Well you might regre-" Byrne was cut off suddenly, because he turned his head back towards the ring and his eyes widened.

"What's wro-" She never got to finish.

In a flash Byrne was pinning her against the wall of the tower.

"Byrne? What's wrong?" She asked.

"Forgive me." He whispered and kissed her.

She froze as his warm mouth claimed hers, and he pulled away all too quickly, avoiding her gaze as he moved away from her and reentered the training room. His gaze hardened and his shoulders grew tense, and he pulled the green scarf around his neck up.

"Byrne-?" She saw a boy in green and a phantom with pink eyes enter the training room.

She gasped. And then everything happened in a blur.

She watched as Byrne approached Link and Phantom Zelda, and Aife raced towards them but she ran into a wall of dark magic that appeared in front of the entrance of the training room.

Byrne walked towards them with a deadly grace.

"... I see you fixed the spirit tracks. My congratulations." He spoke to the two kids as they whipped around in shock upon hearing him. "And you almost did it in time to prevent this. Unfortunately for you... Malladus has already begun the final stage of rebirth. His resurrection will soon be complete... And I can't let you cause any more harm."

"Hey, that's what we were going to say!" Zelda shot back. "Well... Maybe WE won't let YOU cause any more harm!"

"Yeah!" Link put in.

Byrne chuckled at them.  
"I will become as powerful as the spirits. And anyone who gets in my way will be eliminated." He raised his gauntlet. "No matter who it is."

Aife pounded against the purple barrier and screamed out at them. "Byrne, no! Don't do this!" 'Dammit!'

Link glanced at her and his eyes widened.

"Aife?" His gaze returned to Byrne with a hard glare.

"What did you do to her?" Zelda exclaimed.

Byrne ignored them and jumped up onto one of the poles surrounding the ring, as a net like barrier surrounded the two kids from leaving. He whipped his hand at them, firing sharp shards of magic at them.

Link dodged behind Zelda and the two kids moved from side to side, bouncing away from the magic that was being shot at them.

"Dammit! Byrne stop it!" Aife screamed at him, tears pricking at her eyes.

But he continued to ignore her. Jumping from pole to pole and firing magic at the two kids. He then pointed his gauntlet at Link and followed his every movement, getting ready to fire. Link stood his ground, then, as Byrne shot his gauntlet at Link, he jumped to the side and Byrnes claw became caught in the ground.

Byrne struggled to pull it back.

"I'll get it!" Called Zelda as she raced over to the claw.

The phantom lifted it and started to pull it towards them. Eventually Byrne couldn't hold them back and fell on the ground. He didn't get up right away so Link charged at him and started slashing his sword at Byrne.

'No!' Her mind screamed.

She watched as Byrne woke from his stupor and jumped up, retracting his claw back and then slashing it at Link, knocking the kid away.

Byrne jumped and dodged Links failed attempts to hit him, and eventually Link charged up to him and continued whipping his sword at Byrne until he couldn't hold the kid back.

Byrne pushed Link away and dark magic surrounded his claw as he aimed it at the kid.

At the last second Zelda stepped in front of him and blocked Byrne from hitting Link. Byrne and Zelda were now trying to push each other back.

"Link! Quickly! Get him! I've got him here!" Zelda yelled over at the kid who hurriedly picked himself up and raced behind Byrne and started to hit his unguarded back.

Byrne yelled out as Links sword slashed over his back and he broke off from pushing Zelda away and knocked Link away with a quick slash of his claw.

Byrne jumped back onto the post and started jumping from post to post as he fired more magic at the kids.

Link would dodge and Zelda, because she had proper armor, took most of the hits. A few knocked Link down and he struggled to move away quickly enough from Byrnes magic.

Then while Link was struggling to get up, Byrne aimed his claw at him, tendrils of dark magic swarmed around it.

And as Zelda moved to help Link, Byrne aimed towards her.

"Look out!" Aife yelled at her, the girl looked up and jumped back at the last second and the gauntlet just barely whistled past her. She grabbed it again and started pulling Byrne off of the post.

She yanked hard on the claw and Byrne came flying down from the pole and landed on the ground with a thump and did not move to get up.

Aife looked at Link who had just finished drinking from some sort of healing potion before he raced over to Byrne and started slashing his sword at him.

Byrne forced himself up and pushed Link back. Byrne growled at the boy and started blocking hits from the Link.

When Link broke through Byrne smacked him away again and aimed his claw at the boy. He growled and dark magic swirled around his claw and Zelda raced over in front of him.

Byrne collided with her and they struggled to force each other back, Link got up and raced over to where Byrne was.

He moved to Byrnes back and started whipping his sword at him.

Byrne let out a cry of pain and moved back from the kids who also moved away from him.

Byrne fell to his knees, and was breathing hard. "Impossible... I've trained longer than you can imagine. How could a pair of human children defeat me?" He questioned angrily and a little breathlessly.

Zelda spoke up. "Yes we are humans. We have neither the power of spirits or demons. But when we combine our strength... No one can defeat us! Right Link?" She turned to the boy in green beside her.

'Oh... That is so cheesy..."

Link stared at her for a minute then smiled, and let out a light laugh.

Aife faced palmed, and groaned, she saw Byrne get up and stagger over to where she was. The purple wall in front of her disappeared, and she would have ran up to Byrne to help him and yell at him but something else caught her attention.

She heard a strange noise coming from up the stairs, it sounded faint, but she could have sworn she heard something roar.

'Malladus...' Her eyes widened and she raced up the stairs. She knew that Byrne would be fine, and it was his own fault for getting hurt. But now was her chance to try and stop Cole. Her heart slammed inside her chest and the wind tossed her hair around as she ran up the stairs two at a time.

Back in the training room, Zelda smiled back at Link, who jumped up and they gave each other a high five. Smiling at each other.

Completely ignoring that Byrne had already left the room. When they looked over to see Byrne leaving they continued smiling, then gasped and raced after him.

"Hey! Wait! We're not done with you!" Zelda called out after him.

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* * *

A/N: End.

Oh dear... What'll happen when Aife confronts Cole? D:

(Any predictions?)

Alright. I'm leaving this as a cliffhanger for a bit... *sees glaring readers* Come on, I posted up 5 chapters toady! Cut me some slack! I'll update as soon as I can, and hopefully edit this soon... It really bugs me when I miss something when I'm on a big editing hunt... Anyways... I'll update later!

Re to Reviews:

Radiant Firewolf: :) Thank you! I do hope you enjoy the end of this as well.

To be continued... Next time...

Goodnight!  
-TheMidnightWhisp ;*


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

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Aifes heart was slamming inside her chest and she gripped her sword tightly. She raced up the stairs two at a time and she was breathing hard once she got to the top.

Cole had his back turned to her and was facing Zelda's body that was floating over a stone platform. The tears had a dark purplish aura now and were swirling around the girls body.

Aife drew her sword and pointed it at Cole. "This ends here, Cole." She said darkly.

"Oh, you're still alive? I thought Byrne would have taken care of you. Considering how mindless he is." Cole sighed and spoke in a very bored tone, not looking back at her.

"What?" She was taken aback slightly.

"But I suppose I never really expected him to finish the job." The chancellor continued. "He is just as weak as all the other pathetic servants of the sprits..."

"Dick-head!" She yelled at him and took a step toward him, raising her sword.

With a snap of his fingers Aife was flung on the ground. She gasped and groaned at the pain of hitting the stone floor so hard, and she felt something wet and warm on the side of her head, she cursed.

"Foolish girl. I should have killed you from the moment you wondered into the castle! But perhaps this will be much better..." He sneered as he floated up beside her.

"What the hell are you talking about?" She growled at him, pushing herself up.

She tried to stand up but was flung towards one of the large stone pillars. And when she fell on the ground something was holding down her legs. She let out a cry from the sharp pain, and tears blurred her vision. She looked over and saw dark magic restraining her from standing, purple and black tendrils of darkness gripped her legs. She tried to push her arms up, to at least be sitting up, but in a flash they were pinned behind her back and she fell face first towards the stone ground. She let out a gasp from the pain and groaned.

She was about to scream and yell at Cole but he shot dark magic at her mouth, holding her lips shut. She tried to yell but her voice was gone as well.

Cole sighed dramatically. "I was hoping to keep Byrne as my puppet for a bit longer... But seeing how involved he has been with you, I cannot risk having him around any longer... Oh? Did you think I wouldn't have noticed his relationship with you?" Cole sneered, as though disgusted at the thought. "Tsk tsk... Not that it really matters now... He is no longer useful to me..."

'No...' Aife tried again to scream at him, to curse him to the deepest pits of the underworld. But her voice was choked back by the dark magic that seeped around her. She started to cough and sputter and tears threatened to spill from her eyes as her throat felt like it was burning.

"Now now, don't fret girl." He cooed at her. "Your precious Byrne is on his way... And what a pleasure it will be for him to see that it was his fault you end up dead!" The dwarf spat the last part at her. "May you rot with all the other weaklings!" He snarled.

He floated back over to where Zelda's body started twitching in the air.

Tears streamed down her face as she tried to scream but no sound came, not even a muffled noise through her sealed lips.

She watched in horror as Byrne came limping up the finale stairs and started towards Cole. Any blood left in her face drained completely.

Byrne did not see her lying on the ground, and she tired to get his attention but he was too focused on Cole, and the dark magic surrounding her pulled she closer down towards the cold stone floor, making her press flat against the stones.

"Cole! Was the resurrection successful?" Byrne asked, gripping his side.

Cole sighed. "I'm very disappointed in you, Byrne."

Byrnes eyes grew wide. "What?! Why?!"

Cole glanced back at him. "Even those children proved to be too much for you. Well, at least you bought us some time." Cole looked back to Zelda's body. "Behold! The Demon Kings return draws nigh!"

Zelda's body started choking and struggling. Link and Zelda raced up the stairs and stared wildly at what was happening to Zelda's body.

The tears around her body started spinning even faster around her and grew into a tornado like shape. Zelda's body started yelling out in a deeper voice as the dark magic spun around her, while growing larger. When the dark magic finally dispersed from the body, it left behind a deep pink and purplish aura surrounding her. She opened her eyes to reveal yellow and red irises/pupils, showing that the resurrection was successful.

Link and Zelda both flinched and gasped in disgust.

"No! Not with my body!" Phantom Zelda cried out.

"Congratulations on your resurrection, Your Majesty!" Cole bounced around in front of Malladus and bowed in respect.

"Oh, Demon King Malladus..." Cole looked at Byrne with an annoyed glare. "I am the one who has freed you from your prison! Grant me the power I have dreamed of!" Byrne reached his hand out towards Malladus.

Malladus gave him a dead blank stare as he raised his hand. Byrnes eyes widened as Malladus fired out an orb of dark magic at him. Byrne yelled out as he was launched towards one of the pillars beside Aifes and he groaned in pain.

Aife tried screaming out to him but her voice remained silent from the magic that choked her.

Cole floated up to him and started snickering. Byrne lifted his head and saw Aife being held down to the ground with dark magic with blood painted across her face that mixed with her tears, his eyes widened with horror and confusion.

Cole continued to snicker at him. "Nyee hee hee! Thank you for your help. But you are too gullible, my friend. Don't you know he will never give you new power?" Byrnes eyes widened. "After all... You were once a servant to those disgusting spirits... And then you fell 'in love' with one of those pathetic, mindless servants! Laughable!" Cole cooed and then laughed at Byrne as he snarled and swiped his claw at him. "Oh! I should have killed you the moment I saw you..." Cole move towards Aife and shook his head as he shot yet another sharp dark orb into her side. Aifes eyes widened and she winced and would have cried out at the sharp jabbing pain but her voice remained sealed away. Tears streamed down her cheeks and mixed with her blood.

"Stay away from her!" Byrne snarled at him in fury, his deep voice made it sound as though he growled. He glared at Cole with a burning hatred. He tried to lift himself but his arms gave out and he fell back onto the stone floor.

Cole laughed at him and moved away. "What a buffoon you are." Cole started to hop from one foot to another. "Thank you for your help, indeed, you blind fool!" Cole turned to Malladus.  
"Now then, Your Majesty! Let us sacrifice these base creatures to your glory!"

Malladus started gripping at his throat and spun in the air in a circle before reaching up in pain.

"Unnnnnngh... Groorreeerk... RAAAAAAAARWRRRRR!" Malladaus continued struggling in Zelda's body, wincing and twitching uncontrollably.

"Hmmm, do not fear, Your Majesty. You simply aren't use to your new body yet." Cole reminded him. "None of you can stop us!" He yelled out and then snapped his fingers.

The Demon train roared up beside the tower and Cole laughed as he entered it with Malladus. Everyone stared up with wide eyes.

"Listen well, you lapdogs of the spirits! When the Demon King's revival is complete, you will take your last breaths! I suggest you tremble in fear!" Cole yelled out and the train started up again and moved from the tower, leaving behind a trail of black smoke.

Aife felt the restraint on her body slowly edge away and she scurried over to Byrne, wincing at the pain from moving that almost caused her to black out.

"Noooo!" Zelda cried out. "Give back my body to me!" She reached after the Demon train, then bowed her head in defeat.

"It's useless, my dear. There's no way you can hope to defeat him now." Anjean rolled up to them with dark grey clouds coming from her wheel chair. 'How the hell did she get up all those stairs?'

"Anjean! You're not... A ghost... Are you?" Zelda asked, edging closer cautiously.

Aife pulled Byrnes head up into her lap as she kneeled down beside him, lowering her face beside his.

"Byrne?" She whispered, her voice cracked. "Byrne get up, please!"

She saw his eyes open slightly and he squinted at her.  
"Aife-?" His voice was horse, and he tried to reach up to her but his hand fell down as he slipped into unconsciousness.

"The only ghost here is you, my dear. I am still among the living." Anjean said, and all three of them glanced over at Byrne who was lying unconscious.

Aife blinked away tears as she cradled Byrnes head in her lap, watching his chest rise and fall with his slow and ragged breathing.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Once they were inside the Spirit Train, Aife carefully leaned Byrne against the wall on top of the seat he was on, being cautious of his wounds. 'I'll have to look at those...' She thought as she looked at his back to see long gashes from Link and their fight. She sat beside him and winced at the sudden pain that jabbed in her side.

"Oh." Zelda got out after Anjean had finished explaining about what had happened with Byrne and her. Zelda glanced over at Byrne, then back to Anjean.

"I... I couldn't best Byrne. I have to admit, he has grown very strong." Anjean said. "Of course, he's had a century to train. And he's always had the drive to succeed."

Aife couldn't help but smile slightly at that, she carefully trudged off his gauntlet and placed it on the seat across from them.

"And now Malladus has been resurrected." Zelda said.

"Yes. And once he adapts to your body, my dear, even the spirits of good would be nothing against him. They would be unable to seal him away again. Such is the extent of your body's secret power. "

"Is there no way to force him out for good?"

Aife thought a moment then spoke up. "The Bow of Light?... Right, Anjean? Shouldn't it be able to help with the Demon King?"

Anjean turned from them and spoke carefully. "That is correct. In the battle between the Demon King and The Spirits, there was a weapon called the Bow of Light... Perhaps it can drive his spirit out from your body. There's not much time to rid your body of his spirit. Resting even a moment could cost you your life. However... "

"However?" Zelda edged foreword.

"If we force out the spirit of Malladus my dear, I don't know what will happen to your body. If things go wrong... Your spirit might not be able to reenter."

"No... It can't be! Could I really be trapped like this... Forever? What will I do if I can't return, Link? What will I do?" Zelda turned to Link with a worried expression.

"It'll be ok." He told her. "We're going to fix this." He told her with confidence.

"... Thank you, Link." Zelda smiled warmly at him then turned back to Anjean. "Where can we find that bow, Anjean?" She asked with a bit more determination.

Anjean glanced back at them. "Go to the final temple, the Sand Temple. The Bow of Light is located deep inside. It will be the most difficult place you visited yet. It was built only to protect the Bow of Light, so it's full of the trickiest of traps and surprises. The temple will test all of your abilities. Aife, I want you to go with them."

"What?" She frowned.

"Yes. I want you to help them find the bow. The quicker you get the bow the quicker this can end."

She sighed. "... Fine." She wasn't against helping them, she just wanted to stay with Byrne, and she was still exhausted from Cole tossing her around like a rag doll.

"We have to go now. There's no time to be scared. We must return before Malladus fulfills his plan." Zelda said. Link nodded and then glanced at Byrne and Aife. "Please make sure Byrne remains unharmed, Anjean."

"..." Aife couldn't help but smile slightly at Zelda, 'See? She's not mean...'

Anjean rolled up beside them.  
"Are you sure, my dear? He is the one who stole your body, after all."

*Ahem* 'Anjean on the other hand...' Aifes eye twitched in annoyance.

"Yes, but once I reclaim it... I would like to have words with him." Zelda faked punched and kicked the air in front of her and pretended to be in a fight.

Link laughed at her and Anjean smiled warmly. Aife let out a giggle and then glanced at Byrne. She watched as Byrne slowly opened his eyes, and then glared over at Zelda.

Aife grabbed his hand and he looked at her. All his anger and confusion fell from his eyes and he squeezed her hand back in response. She gave him a warm smile, knowing that they couldn't speak to each other right now because of all the people. Byrne closed his eyes again, still holding her hand tightly.

Anjean made a golden triangle appear and explained to Link and Zelda about force gems. Basically it meant that they could now enter the Sand Realm because the tracks reappeared there. She also mentioned the guardian of the Sand Realm that they would have to meet first.

Link nodded and gave Aife a cheesy grin before the two kids rushed out of the passenger cart to start up the train.

Anjean looked between Aife and Byrne and gave her an all knowing smile before she turned and moved to the front of the passenger cart.

"Byrne?" She whispered once Anjean was out of hearing range.

He closed his eyes tighter and gripped her hand.

"I'm fine." He assured her. "Are you alright?" He opened his eyes and reached his hand out and carefully pushed her hair back behind her ear to get a better look at the cut along the side of her head. A look of hurt passed over his eyes and he gently traced his thumb over her cheek.

"Yeah. I'm good." She told him, leaning into his hand.

He let out a sigh of relief.  
"Aife... I-... I'm so sorry." He whispered. "I've been so blind, I wish I could have seen... that Cole was..."

"A complete nut-job?" She finished for him.

He let out a scratchy chuckle, and then started coughing, he gripped his chest and winced while he groaned.

"Hey, be careful. Just rest." She said as she let her thumb trail back and forth over his hand.

He nodded and leaned his head over onto her shoulder. She smiled and leaned her head against him as well.

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A moment went by in complete silence, only the sounds of the train rattling as it moved by and the constant rhythm of Byrnes breathing filled Aifes ears.

Zelda reentered the passenger cart and spoke to Anjean for a second before turning to Aife.

Zelda floated up to her, grinning like an idiot. The girl made gestures at Byrne to ask if he was asleep.

Aife nodded and gave her a confused look. Zelda sat on the seat in front of Aife.

"Sooo, is there something... Going on between you two?" Zelda asked quietly.

"Why would you ask that?"

"Well... He is leaning on you. And I saw the way you two were looking at each other earlier." Zelda smiled knowingly when Aife didn't answer. "Do you like him?" She asked suddenly.

"What?"

"I mean 'really' like him?" Zelda pushed farther, something glinting in her eyes.

Aife giggled slightly, and looked at the sleeping boy leaning on her, well, who was more likely unconscious then sleeping.

She nodded.

Zelda's hand flew up to her mouth and she gasped at them.  
"You must give me all the details!" Zelda squealed. Aife was about to say later but was cut off. "Did you kiss?" Zelda asked excitedly.

Aife felt blood creep up to her cheeks.

"I'll tell you some other time." Aife whispered harshly while making shooing gestures.

"You did!" Zelda giggled and winked at her before she left.

Aife let out a sigh. 'Oh, children...' Sometimes she forgot that Zelda was still a young girl, with uncontrollable urges to giggle and squeal every time kissing and boys were brought up. Aife doubted she got a lot of chances back at the castle to act so childish. Though it didn't bother her that Zelda was prying slightly, she almost enjoyed being able to giggle about it with another girl. She had never had any friends who were girls before...

She closed her eyes and shook her head. She felt herself start to slip away, allowing herself to sleep.

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A/N: You know what bugged me about this game?... Is that, possible the best side villain ever, had to die in the most awful way.  
Sure he died by sacrificing himself to help Zelda which is a very noble way to go. Even a really great way to kill off a character...

But really Nintendo? Making him explode? Just... Poof. Gone. Come on! ... That bugs me. I almost cry every time I play that game and watch the ending... :(

Has anyone seen the movie Brave? Srsly. That huge olive skinned guy in there with the long dark hair, (the one that looks all beastly and was mistaken as one of the lords sons), he could be Byrne. Really! If Byrne had olive colored skin, that would be him. *faints like fangirl* He had such a big chest... XD' Gosh... I love that guy...

Q: Favorite tool/weapon in the LoZ games?

Me: The shovel.  
Srsly. How could they not have that thing in all of the LoZ games?


	20. Chapter 20

::::::::::::: cAPTEr. TwentY::::::::

Aife woke up and stared blankly at the seat in front of her. She could vaguely remember the strange dreams she had... Flashes of blue and orange... She remembered something black burning her hand... And then red eyes. That's what seemed to shine out the most. Pure crimson eyes.

She shuddered slightly and then carefully moved Byrnes head off of her shoulder.

She carefully leaned him against the wall as she stood.

"Aife..." Byrne murmured as his eyes slowly opened.

"Shh. Byrne, your back wounds seem pretty bad... Can you remove your shirt so I can help?" She asked.

He weakly nodded and started to pull up the end of his shirt, she helped him tug it off so that his mask remained on. She knew that he wouldn't be comfortable taking it off in front of others, even if it was just Anjean (who was sleeping in the first passenger seat).

He gasped and groaned as his bare back brushed slightly against the seat.

"Lean forward." She said.

He did, and she was able to see the long red gashes along his back, red lines criss-crossing over his spine.

She slowly brought her hand to place it gently on his back. She felt his muscles stiffen and he took a quick intake of breath.

"Sorry." She muttered. "Just... Relax."

She waited until his shoulders loosened before she started concentrating on the magic inside her blood.

She forced the energy straight to her palms, and she felt her hands grow warm. A soothing tingling feeling grew in her palms and she carefully placed them over his back.

He hissed again as her hands made contact with his wounds. But his muscles slowly relaxed as she radiated the heat from her hands into his back. She wasn't healing his wounds, just allowing his muscles to lose any soreness with the warmth of her magic.

He let out a sigh, and she removed her hands from his back as he sat up.

She sat down beside him and he nuzzled his face into her neck, his silk black hair tickled her skin.

"Thank you." He murmured softly into her neck.

"I'm not sure I helped much... But you're welcome."

He pulled back and she couldn't help her eyes trailing down to his chest.

She gasped as she saw a large black splotch and scratches spiraling all around his chest from the spot where Malladus had hit him.

"Byrne..." She slowly brought her hand to it.

He gasped and groaned as her fingers barely grazed over it, she immediately pulled back and winced for him.

"Sorry!" She whispered.

"It's okay." He wheezed out.

She sighed and he carefully pulled his shirt over his head again.

"Aife..." Byrne started as he reached his hand over to rest it against her cheek. "Forgive me... I was such a fool..."

"Hey... Shh.. It's okay." She reminded him.

"No. It's not." He told her. "I... Cole could have... Killed you there... And I-" He swallowed hard as he brought his head closer to hers. "I can't live without you." He whispered, closing his eyes.

She felt tears prick at her eyes, and she wanted to tell him what she felt... But those three words choked her, so instead, she kissed his forehead. Not realizing that that was her last chance to tell him.

"Please rest. It'll be okay..." She whispered back. Though she didn't even believe her own words.

He nodded and closed his eyes and rested his head carefully against the wall as he held her hand, gently tracing circles over her palm with his finger.

She let out a long sigh, and heard the passenger cart door open.

Link entered and walked up to her.

"Aife? Are you coming?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah. You go ahead. I'll be there in a sec." She told him.

Link nodded, and gave Byrne a wary glance before leaving.

She sighed and looked over at Byrne. The wound on his chest was what worried her the most. The dark cuts looked painful, and she worried for him. That wound will not help him during the finale battle.

'Then I won't let him fight.' She thought determinedly.

She moved off the seat and opened up the back door. She glanced back at Byrne before entering the bright light outside.

The first thing she noticed when stepping onto the platform was how bright everything was. Then a wave of heat hit her. She blinked a few times and slowly, her surroundings became more clear.

Sand was everywhere. There were, of course, a few stone paths around the area but there was a ton of sand covering the Sand Sanctum.

"This heat is crazy..." Aife muttered as she walked up to the two kids. "This is why I prefer the snow..."

"Oh, I would just melt... If I had a body, that is. Tee hee!" Zelda giggled. "Seriously, though, I can't help but wonder what's become of my poor body..."

"They're going to get a ton of tattoos." Aife muttered.

"What?!" Zelda stared at her in horror.

"And piercings... I hear they're becoming quite popular..." She added. "Maybe a nose ring... A lip ring... And... Ooh! And a huge snake tattoo that can run down your neck and then curve to your spine!"

Link laughed and Zelda pouted and muttered a 'they would not' in a very childish tone.

"So where is the Sand Sanctuary?" Link questioned.

Aife glanced around only to see flat sand everywhere.

She frowned and walked forward and the two kids followed behind.

She stopped suddenly beside one of the stone paths.

"Here." She announced.

"What? There's nothing but sand here!" Zelda exclaimed.

"Yeah... It is a 'Sand' Sanctuary..." She sighed. "Link do you have any bombs? Or a shovel?" 'I want a shovel. Please say you have a shovel...'

Link nodded and pulled out a blue bomb. 'Dammit!'

'Wait... Where does he keep all that stuff?' She wondered.

"Thanks." She lit it and placed on the ground beside her feet.

"Gah!" Both Link and Zelda jumped out of the way of the sparking bomb and Aife laughed at them as she slowly moved out of range of the bomb.

It exploded and through the dust of the sand appeared a stairway descending into the ground.

Aife gave them a coy smile as the kids gaped at the new stairs.

"What the-? How did you know-?" Link stuttered.

"I know Rael... But why he hides his doorways in the sand, I shall never understand." She told them and started walking down the stairs.

The entered a hallway and made a turn to their right and entered the actual sanctum. Sand fell from the ceiling and fell around the circle where Rael was. The Lokomo had a sandy mane like hair, with the same colored beard. He also had red eyeliner around his deep brown eyes.

"Hello Rael!" Aife called out and waved her arm dramatically in the air at him. Wincing inwardly at her sore side.

"Oh, hello there, Aife. Goodness, I havent see you for a while, you're all grown up! Oh! You had us all worried sick! How was your little adventure?"

She smiled at him as they climbed up the stairs.

"Ah, that's what I've heard..." She told him. "Oh, it was fabulous!" She said as she flopped her hand forward in a dramatic way. "Being kiddnapped and having to help resurrect Malladus was lovely..." She sniffled and Rael laughed as he turned to Zelda.

"So wonderful you could make it, Your Highness." He smiled towards Zelda and then turned to Link. "And you too, young man! Call me Rael; it's my name! I am the guardian of the Sand Realm!" He said pleasantly.

"The Lokomo of this realm is awfully different from Embrose, don't you think?" Zelda whispered over to Link.

"Hm? Oh, you mean Embrose. Yes. He can be a bit stuffy at times." Rael said.

"Dude, he's 'stuffy' all the time." Aife put in. "He doesn't even let me play his drums..." She mumbled childishly.

Rael rolled his eyes and smiled, then looked back to Link.  
"Anyways, you came here to fix the tracks, right?"

"Exactly." Link chirped.

"Now that's music to my ears. After all, you are a key competent in restoring this area's lost Spirit Tracks. I take it you've heard of the Lokomo's songs then."

"Of course." Link said.

"Very good. Now just repeat after me until you've got a handle on it."

Rael pulled out his clarinet/horn and began to play a few different notes. Link listened intently then tried to repeat them. It took him a few times before he nodded with more determination in his eyes.

"That was music to my ears. Would you care to try a real performance now?"

"Yes!" Link said excitedly.

Rael brought his clairinet/horn to his lips and began to play the same notes as before.

After Rael finished, Link brought his flute to his mouth and played the notes he was told to use. They came out beautifully, each one was played perfectly, the timing, and how long each was carried out for.

Rael started playing a more complicated tune, adding a few more notes and dragging out the last one as Link followed in with his part. Rael returned back to the original tune and Link followed after.

Their instruments started to glow every so slightly as the new Spirits Tracks were being activated.

Zelda started swaying with the song with her eyes closed and Aife smiled at how beautiful the song sounded with the two parts coming together in harmony.

When it was finally over Link gave Zelda a cheesy grin.

Aife started clapping.

"That was excellent!" Aife cheered dramatically.

Rael smiled and spoke up. "Now, there is something I must tell you. In order to reach the Sand Temple, you must pass three trials. First, you will encounter the great eye that looms in the shadows."

"Ooh... Spooky." Aife giggled as Rael squinted his eyes at her in fake annoyance.

"Then you will need to navigate through the twisted tunnels. And finally, you will face the impenetrable temple. What awaits you there, you'll have to see with your own eyes, young man."

"You did it! Nice job, Link!" Zelda chirped. "But I wonder what these trials will be like... Anyways, let's get going to the Sand Temple! Thank you so much, Rael!" Zelda said as she turned to the Lokomo.

"Stay safe as you retrieve the Bow of Light." Rael told them, then he turned to Aife. "And stop getting into so much trouble, missy!"

"What? But that's the best part of my day..." She complained.

He rolled his eyes and waved at them as they left the room.

"Was he also one of your mentors?" Link asked Aife as they reached up the stairs.

"Yeah, he was great... Though I haven't seen him for almost a year. So it was nice to see him again." She told Link.

Link smiled kindly and they boarded the train. Link moved up to the front of the train and Zelda followed, and Aife headed to the passenger cart to see Byrne was still asleep.

She moved to sit beside him and she pulled off her boots to dump out the sand that got in there. 'How the hell did all this sand even get in here?' She questioned mentally as she pulled her boots back on. 'Stupid sand... At least snow melts after a minute...' She then wondered how much sand was in Raels hair...

She closed her eyes against the throbbing pain that was still in her side and leaned back into the seat.

When she opened her eyes, Anjean was there beside her.

"Aife. I wanted to ask you about you and Byrne." Aife frowned. "I know it's not any of my business..."

'You're right. It isn't.' Aife thought, getting ready for some long lecture.

"... But I want you to understand what you're getting into to. Byrne has a rather colorful past. Are you certain about him?" Anjean questioned.

"Yes." Aife told her. "But my relationship with him is nothing to be concerned of. I've had to deal with this guy for almost two weeks. I know what I'm doing." Aife told her.

Anjean smiled and closed her eyes. "Very well, dear. I only wanted to make sure you were certain about him."

Aife nodded.

"Oh, and another thing, dear. About your sword..."

"What?" Aife held her sword to her chest as though it were some kind of baby. "Don't dis my sword!" She got out defensively.

"Dear, your sword is hardly fit for the coming battle."

"I- I thought you wouldn't want me to be apart of that fight?" She asked, confused.

"Oh yes. But you wouldn't listen to me, would you?" Anjean winked at her.

"Heh. I suppose not... Anyways, what was that you were saying?"

"There is another weapon within the Sand temple that may be of use to you." Anjean started.

"But shouldn't Link be the one to use it?" Aife asked.

"No. He will receive his own. This one, I think, was made especially for you. This one was forged by the Tears of Light and the Tears of Darkness, directly from the Spirits and the Demon King." Anjean explained. "I want you to enter the Sand Temple and retrieve it."

Aife thought about this for a moment, then she nodded.

"Alright." She told her. "My poor training sword has dealt with enough adventuring."

Anjean only smiled and moved away to the front of the cart.

Aife let out a sigh and leaned her head against the seat. 'What is with all these tears? First the darkness ones... And now there are tears of light?... Well, maybe it'll be a cool sword... A sword of... Opposite tears...'

Slowly she let her head flop over on Byrnes shoulder, feeling drained.

After a minute she jumped suddenly at the feeling of something slamming against the train.

/ Link POV \\

Link winced slightly when the giant eye bug creature threw itself onto the passenger cart.

Zelda screamed at him to pay attention.

He frowned and quickly tried to find the eye that hid itself within the darkness.

Slowly, a large yellow colored eye appeared and Link fired his cannon at it. The creature crawled around the cave, moving upside down as it scurried onto the top of the cave, readying itself to drop on top of the train. He continued pulling the trigger to fire out the cannon balls at the large creature until it fell onto the floor of the cave, making dust and dirt swirl above it.

Link mentally fist pumped the air.

He heard the large bug thing wake up and its strange legs started tapping along the walls as it approached them.

Link frowned. The eye wasn't visible.

Panic filled him and he saw a few explosive barrels scattered around the cave.

He watched as the giant bug scurried up behind him and Link quickly shot the barrel that the creature raced over, causing it to explode and reveal the yellow eye.

Link fired some more cannon balls at the eye and the creature stumbled to the ground.

He sighed in relief and readied the cannon for another round.

The large creature screamed through the darkness as it got up. It scurried over to the train and started crawling on the roof of the tunnel to try and jump on top of the train. Link continued the same pattern as before for a while longer.

After being sick of fighting the bug creature for so long, Link blew up all of the barrels and eventually hit one that forced the yellow eye to appear.

He quickly fired out as many shots as the cannon could handle until the large bug creature screamed out again and started to wobble and it fell to the ground.

Link sighed again and quickly moved to the front of the train to turn the train down the new path and they were finally out of the dark cave.

"These must be the twisted tunnels coming up. Be careful Link." Zelda warned.

He nodded and looked forward at the new coming tunnel.

/\/\/\

"Go back! No no no! Turn around and go that way!" Zelda nagged.

Link pulled the train to a sudden halt and groaned into the handle.

Zelda had been nagging/bossing him around for the past half hour, and her 'advice' was not helping at all.

These blasted tunnels kept returning them to where they had first started. No matter which way the went, or tried going back into another one.

"Link! Come on, just try going this way!" Zelda gestured over to the tunnel on their right.

"I'm going to go talk with Aife. Maybe she'll be helpful." Link muttered.

"What? And I'm not?" Zelda pouted.

Link tried to give her a comforting smile as he moved towards the passenger cart.

Link smiled at Anjean as he passed by the old Lokomo. He walked straight up to Aife, who was still sitting next to the unconscious Byrne with her eyes closed, and she was leaning her head against his shoulder.

He frowned. He didn't understand why she was so... Close, with him. He kidnapped her and used her to help him and Cole resurrect Malladus... And some how... There was this softness to her gaze ever time she glanced at him. He wasn't sure what he felt of that. He wasn't even sure if he trusted Byrne yet. He knew Aife wouldn't be a fool and fall for just anyone... But he wasn't sure if he trusted her on this one.

He had saw how horrified she looked when Malladus had knocked Byrne down. And Byrne did try to defend her when Cole was taunting her... He looked absolutely furious when Cole was bugging him about Aife... Link shook his head and knew he could dwell on this later.

"Aife?" Link asked softly.

Aife slowly opened her eyes and her gaze flickered over to Byrne as she lifted her head, then she glanced at Link. "Oh, hey. What's up?" She asked. "Where are we?"

"The twisted tunnels... And we can't get through them..." He explained.

She smirked. "And you want me to help you out with that?"

He nodded.

"Oh. Alright." She stood and then winced slightly. "I suppose I can help... Was Zelda giving you directions?"

"Uh, yes?"

"See? There's your problem. Don't take directions from ghosts." She smirked and shook her head, her wavy hair flickering as she followed Link down the passenger cart.

Link smiled slightly and moved to the controls as Aife moved up beside him.

He handed her some maps and she carefully scanned over them.

"Now, what have you tried so far?"

Link started the train up again and it lurched foreword into the first section. Where three new tunnels appeared.

"We've been trying every different combination. We tried going trough all of these tunnels. And eventually we ended up back at the beginning." He told her.

She pursed her lips and grabbed the control handle.

"Alright... What does this do?" She asked.

"That'll make you go backwards." He told her.

She pulled the lever down.

"That's not going to help." Zelda pointed out. "Moving backwards will only bring us where we've started."

"Hun', these tunnels are magic. They do not apply to the same rules as your average tunnel." Aife told her as they suddenly appeared in a new section.

Aife pulled the train to a sudden hault and pulled the lever back again.

And again, that worked. They appeared in a new section with a few other tunnels around.

"Alright..." Aife frowned.

"Now where?" Zelda asked.

"Hmm... Let's try... Over there." Aife pointed towards the one in front of them.

"Are you sure?" Link asked.

"Nope." She chirped and grinned at him as Zelda started ranting about how Aife didn't even know how to drive a train, and how she isn't going to help at all.

But she stopped talking when Aife turned to the floating girl with a smirk as they reached the end of the twisted tunnels.

"See? Magic hands!" Aife said as she waved her fingers about in the air with sparks of magic surrounding them. "Alright kids, I'm going back inside, this heat is killing me... Will you be okay now?"

Link nodded. "Yep. There's only one trial left. I think we can handle it." She nodded and smiled as she entered back into the passenger cart.

Zelda sighed and grumbled something about how she was just lucky.

Link rolled his eyes while smirking as he turned the train towards the enormous Sand Temple.

/ Aife POV \\\\

Aife plopped her self down across from Byrne and watched his chest rise and fall shakily with each ragged breath he took.

She winced slightly for him.

That's when something slammed against the side of the train, making Aife jump and Byrne stir.

Aife heard Zelda yelling in the front of the train at Link to pay attention. She held back a giggle. 'Poor Link...'

She sighed and watched the train make a sharp turn, just barely dodging another cannon ball that was fired at them.

Aife looked at Byrne to see him watching her.

"Hey." She said.

"Hey." He replied.

She opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it. She bit her lower lip before she finally spoke up.

"Byrne, I-"

"Let's just leave." He cut her off.

"What?"

"What if we... Just left. Found some where to live and..." He continued.

"Byrne we can't just leave. Not when-..." She started, cutting him off.

He sighed angrily and then winced at the pain that shot through his chest.

"I know but... What if we did... Just leave. Just forget about everything and get out of here?" He said.

"Byrne... We can't... It's almost over. Then we can do what ever the hell we want." She added softly.

He nodded, though he didn't look convinced.

"Hey..." She started as she reached for his hand. "After all this, you can show me the view at the top of the tower." She pulled back and gave him a warm smile.

His eyes smiled back, and then a dark look passed over them.

"Is that all you want to see?" He asked in a husky and suggestive voice.

Warmth crept up to her cheeks and she bit her lip to refrain from giggling.

She looked away. "Well, I don't know. You'll just have to show me when the time comes..." She told him while smirking as she watched the doors to the Sand Temple opened through her window.

Sand fell off of the old stone doors as they slowly opened, revealing a new set of tracks going into a dark entrance.

Aife let out a shaky breath and looked back at Byrne as she stood. The train entered the new temple and came to a stop.

"You're going with them." Byrne said, it wasn't a question.

"Yeah... I'm off to get a snazzy new sword!" She chirped while grabbing her old sword.

(A/N: Aifes sword probably looks like the ones that have cracks/chips in it, with spiderwebs and some band-aides to hold it all together... ^^)

Byrne closed his eyes. "Just be careful." He told her.

"I will." She said as her hand trailed over his shoulder as she exited out of the train.

Aife walked towards the front of the train to see Link and Zelda.

"Whew, we made!" Zelda exclaimed. "Now for the real challenge... Are you ready?"

"Of course!" Link chirped.

"Uh, no." Aife put in as she walked up to them.

"Well we can't quit now." Zelda told her. "Wait... Are you coming with us?"

"Heh, no, lucky for you I'll be adventuring on my own. I have to find this snazzy new sword made from tears..." Aife told them.

"Oh, well, come on Link. We better hurry." Zelda said.

"Good luck Aife!" Link chirped and turned to leave.

"Hey Link!" Aife called after him, he turned. "Race you to the end!" Link nodded and he started to run towards the entrance.

Aife snickered and started towards the entrance as well.

The first thing Aife noticed in the Sand Temple was how dusty it was... And the air was very stagnant.

She sneezed.

"Uhh... Shit." She sneezed again and cursed.

She faced palmed herself when she realized that she didn't have a map.

"Alright, Aife, try and remember... If I were a sword made of crying spirits and demons, where would I be?" She questioned.

She groaned and decided to wonder a bit. 'Wondering fixes everything!'

The room had old brown stone tiles, some were a bit darker then others and everything was coated with a thin layer of dust and sand. There were strange patches of sand and a weird hammer thing.

Aife sneezed again as she walked up to the hammer.

"Whoa..." She poked it.

Nothing happened. She sighed and saw a purple switch (insert troll face here...), she smiled wickedly and kicked it.

The hammer came slamming down onto the weird wooden platform, barely missing her.

"Huh... That's pretty cool..." She saw a large boulder a few feet away and she grinned evilly at her new victim.

Eventually she was able to push the enormous rock over onto the wooden platform and once it was on she gave the rock a small pat.

"I'm sorry it has to come to this..." She told the rock.

She whipped her sword at the purple switch and the hammer smashed against the large rock, making it fly into the wall in front of it.

The rock shattered against the wall, which now had a large gaping hole in it.

She raced over to the new hole to see a set of stairs going down.

"Awesome." She started down the stairs to the lower levels.

She sneezed again.

"Dammit!" She yelled and continued down the dusty stairs, loathing every speck of dust that floated around her aimlessly.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

A/N: UHH! Finally done! Well... This only took me about 2 weeks to write. Maybe 3... :(

Anyway, umm... Now that I'm finally over my writers block I should be able to write more... Unless my teachers decide to drown me in homework.

Ack! I have the ending all planned out but this stupid temple is just killing me, and then I found out that Link still needs the compass of light (which is in the fricken tower!) uhhh... Any ideas for a new Sand Temple boss? I can't think of any right now... Well, if I don't think of anything and no one else thinks of something, then I'll make her fight the regular boss with Link... (I love that boss.) But really, I want her to fight something awesome! It may or may not be her last boss fight... *nudge nudge* Srsly, if I can't think of anything, and someone does have an idea for a wicked sand boss, Please! Tell me! Just PM me or something.

Gah! *grabs IPod* Globus! I need you!  
'One sails the sea... Of life and believes, the storms will lead you home... These open roads will call you with a promise, you'll walk the earth alone...' ;)  
("The Promise")

Hmm my question for you is:

If you had to choose ONE thing to fight with in the zombie apocalypse, what would it be?

Me? Oh, it would be a cricket bat. Just like in Shawn of the Dead. Those things are wicked heavy (so I've heard)...

(Oh and her so-called dream... That's a little peek into the next fanfic I'm working on... :)

RE Reviews:

Guest: Hah! Thanks! Ahh, that show creeps me out... ;)

Sorry for the super long authors note!


	21. Chapter 21

Chpaetr twntey one:

(Did you see what I did there?)

-

* * *

Aife could not stop sneezing.

"ACHOO!" She squeaked out, and then grumbled a few curses at the stupid air.

She continued to stomp down the dusty stairs and when she finally reached the bottom, she sneezed again.

"Urgh!" Dust fluttered about as she yelled.

The new hall she found was lit by torches that alined down the walls. Sand fell along the walls and onto the floor, and then sank below through the large gapes and holes that were in the cracked and broken tiles. The walls were decorated with strange figures, and boxy designs that laced the bottom and the top of the wall. But most of the engraving was either worn away with time or cracked from whatever lingered down here. Shadows danced across the hall, making it look even smaller.

This is where she was starting to feel claustrophobic.

Sand was building up on different areas down the hall and the roof was very low. She grumbled to herself as she started down the hall. She made a turn to her left only to be struck by a bone.

"What the hell?" She looked up to see a skeleton bouncing in front of her with another bone in hand.

The thing threw another bone at her and she quickly dodged to the side while pulling out her sword as she advance towards the skeleton. She took a long stride towards the creature and with a single fluent motion she cut off its head, making it fall to the ground and bobble in place.

Aife stomped her boot on top of the skull and smiled proudly at the bones that were shattered around the room.

She took in a deep breath and regretted it the moment more dust came in.

"Ugh... This sword better be worth it..." She sneezed again and groaned in annoyance.

She continued down the long and awkwardly shaped hallways, finding a few more skeletons and other sand like creatures that didn't take very long to get rid of.

She heard something hiss beside her and she looked down to see a snake slither along the sand down the hall.

The snake was thin and brown, blending in perfectly with the sand it raced across. It's strange skin appeared like leather diamonds indented every so slightly into its skin.

Aife frowned slightly and continued down the dust polluted hall.

After a few minutes Aife made a turn to her left to see that the hall looked slightly smaller.

'Are you kidding me?' She thought, glaring at the small hallway.

She had to bend her head slightly to stop it from brushing against the low roof. She could feel the sickening sand brush past her arms as it fell from the roof and tumble to the floor, filling her boots in the process.

"Stupid Lokomo sword... Making me get sand in my boots..."

Aife sighed and tried to stay somewhat positive. "Maybe this won't be so bad... I mean... It's a sword made of tears... How could that not be awesome? A little sand isn't so bad..."

Aife squinted her eyes as she turned to her right to go down the new hall.

The hall had shrunk slightly.

Aife took in a deep breath and let out a long dramatic sigh and then sneezed. She now had to bend her head farther down to an awkward point as she moved down the hall.

That's when the sand in front of Aife began to tremor and rise. Aife glared at the strange sand blob creature that snaked towards her. Its body was entirely made of sand and a few pebbles here and there, it had strange black pits for its eyes and mouth.

Aife sliced her sword through it, though it did not cause any damage to the creature. Her sword only cut through it as though it were a regular pile of sand.

Aife growled a curse to herself as she thrusted her sword into the sand blobs eye, and she somehow managed to snake around the creature while whipping her blade back and forth at it.

That's when she saw, from the corner of her eye, another sand blob creature appear.

The blob opened its mouth to an incredible size and Aife had barely enough time to roll away as the creature snapped its jaw close, barely missing Aifes back.

More were appearing around her, raising from the sand and moving towards her.

She growled and made her sword whip around in a giant arc, hitting the majority of the sand creatures and pushing them back slightly as they slowly slithered towards her.

Though it hardly helped. They continued towards her and she continued slashing her sword back and forth at them to no avail.

She sneezed. "Oh, bugger it all." She growled and forced the energy around her outwards in a mind blast.

The sand creatures staggered for a moment, and Aife did not hesitate to slash her sword through one and quickly raced through the hole she had created, one that was already filling up with sand again.

She started to run down the hall, pumping her legs harder. Knowing she could never defeat those things, who were now chasing her down the hall as they continued to multiply.

She noticed how the roof was finally raising as she raced through the sand filled hall, and feeling somewhat gratified.

She breathed a sigh of relief. 'I must be close to being done, right?' She thought hopefully.

She continued racing through the halls, and made a sharp turn to her left, not really paying attention to what was around her.

That's when the floor beneath her disappeared.

She screamed at the shock of no longer touching solid ground, and she plummeted to wherever gravity was pulling her. She landed with an 'oof' and groaned as her leg started to throb from the pain of landing in an awkward position.

She opened her eyes to see she was in some sort of pit, sand covered the entire area, and the walls were completely smooth. She cursed as she realized that all of the exits/entrances were above her. And the smooth walls would make it impossible to climb up there.

"Uhhh, shit." She grumbled and tried to stand.

Her leg gave out and she let out a noise of pain, and closed her eyes against the throbbing in her leg, that grew worse as she tried to stand up straight.

She tried to force her right leg to stand up properly and support her, but it continued to throb and scream at her to sit down.

She clenched her teeth as she tried to take a step foreword but ended up falling as her leg gave out.

"Dammit!" She yelled.

She glared down at her stupid leg. It wasn't broken, just a little out of place from falling partially on it. 'Great...'

But she had to get out of there now. Though how she was going to do that was still the problem.

She pushed her arms straight so that they held her up, and she took her good leg and tried to force herself to stand.

She managed to use her sword as a cane and was able to stand up rather awkwardly. She glared down at the throbbing in her leg and then looked up to scan the area.

The walls would be of no use to her, they were far too smooth for her to climb them, and she doubted her sword would do much damage to them either. They had strange spiral like markings on them, different shades of brown colored them. The floor was covered in sand, and not much else.

'Maybe, I could make I giant sand castle to get out of here and-' She sighed angrily and closed her eyes for a second, but not before she saw something move in front of her. Her eyes flew open as she watched the patch of sand in front of her tremble.

And then, streams of sand were flowing towards the middle, though, there was no evidence as to how it was moving.

That's when the sand started to build up, similar to those sand blob things, only this one was forming the shape of a man like creature. It was growing taller and arm like shapes extended from its torso, and stretched outwards.

Aifes eyes twitched and she held back a gasp as she carefully scooted further back from the creature, feeling the rough sand tumble towards the creature from under her feet.

The sand man thing started to grow a head like shape and a large gaping mouth appeared. It screamed up into the air as sand continued to flow into it, making it grow even larger. Aife looked down and realized that every speck of sand in the pit was apart of the sand creature.

'That's... Kind of gross...'

Aife glanced up at the creature that towered over her with rubies for eyes which glared at her.

"Uh... Hi! Is this your sand? My bad... I'll just get out of your hair here and be in my way... Well, actually, I'll get out of your sand..." Aife smiled lightly at the creature that continued to glare at her.

The creature screamed at her, making sand fall from its mouth, and slammed its hand down towards her. Aife screamed and barely had enough time to roll out of the way and clutch her sword to her chest as the enormous sand hand came crashing down towards her.

She hit the stone floor hard and rolled a little bit away from the giant fist. Pain shot through her leg and she gasped and clutched it when she finally stopped moving.

The sand figure slowly started to spin to face her exact direction and Aife tried to scoot away to the edge of the pit.

Her back hit the wall and she was breathing heavily, she clutched her sword with her one hand and pushed away her hair that fell in front of her vision. She blinked a few times and tried to stand up as the creature turned towards her full on.

She was able to stand but her leg begged her to sit, just to rest. But she wouldn't allow herself to give into such weakness.

She quickly took in the creatures shape. Long arms, but not long enough to graze against the walls. It's torso was attached to the remaining sand in the middle of the room, sand continuously flowing towards it from the cracks in the floor. And then there was it's head. It almost looked a bit mis-shaped...

The sand man raised its arm up again and slammed it down towards Aife and she barely jumped out of the way. Sand exploded up into the air as it's large fist smashed into the hard stone floor. Making it impossible to see.

Aife glanced back at the creature to see that its arm was completely flat, but it slowly started to build up again into a regular arm.

She quickly raced over to it, limping as she did so, and whipped her sword across and down the creatures arm. The thing screeched out, even its voice sounded like sand scrapping against sand, as half its arm was cut off. Which immediately fell to the floor in a heap of plain, non-moving sand.

Aife let out a shaky laugh and coughed a few times as dust and sand fluttered about her. She looked over to see the sand man, still screeching, and waving its arm about in pain.

And then, its arm started to grow back.

"Are you kidding me?!" Aife snarled and moved back from the creature as its new armed formed.

Which had some long, jagged stone spikes poking out all over the new arm.

"SHIT!" Aife screamed and raced away as the creature started to turn towards her.

'Shit shit shit shit shit!' Her leg throbbed and she ended up limp-running away from the bloody sand creature.

She felt something catch on her boot and of course, she had to trip then.

She looked behind her to see a medium sized stone sitting there trying to look innocent.

She glared at the stupid rock and then glared over to the sand creature that turned towards her.

She pushed herself up, her leg screaming in protest, and she moved towards the stone.

"Okay... This is ridiculous..." She grabbed the hard stone and waited until the sand creatures eyes were in view.

That's when she threw the heavy rock at the creatures red crystal eye.

The was a loud smashing noise, like a window breaking, as the giant ruby eye shattered to the floor. The sand man screamed and gripped its missing eyes as it spun around the room madly.

"Awesome." She mentally fist pumped the air.

Then, the creature froze.

Aife barely had enough time to blink as it whipped towards her in a flash and brought it's face right up to hers.

Aife held her breath and she could see, what looked like, a skull like face inside the hole where its ruby eye use to be.

The creature screamed at her and sand blowed right into her face as its disgustingly warm breath blew back her hair.

When it finally stopped screaming, Aife couldn't hear anything. Everything was in a white noise like trance and she wobbled back slightly, hearing a faint whining noise in her ears. Her head grew dizzy and she tried to move back, but was too slow.

The giant creature slammed its arm into her, the non-spiky one thankfully, which threw her across the room as though she was just a rag doll.

She slammed against the wall across the room and screamed.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as pain shot through her entire body, blood covered her forehead and quickly rushed down her cheek. She couldn't move, she couldn't hear, and all the blood and tears made it impossible to see.

She cried out as her body twitched slightly and white hot pain shot through her body, making her black out for a second.

Her breathing grew ragged and she tried to move again, but her body was giving up on her.

'No. No no no no, goddess help me... It can't end like this...'

She felt anger start to flow though her veins which triggered her magic...

"NO!" She screamed and pushed herself up, her entire arms engulfed in a silver like flame of pure energy.

She stood before the giant sand creature and yelled at it as it screamed back at her, raising its fist.

She also raised her own arm and smashed it against the creatures giant sand arm, stopping it from crushing her.

She yelled out at the pain of all her magic being focused on holding back the creature, all her focus and strength poured into her hands and filled the veins in her arms to push the creature back.

Finally, she shot all of her magic out and the creatures arm exploded off with a loud pang as sand flew across the room and tumbled to the ground.

The creature screamed and whipped around and away from her as its shoulder, where it originally connected with its arm, glowed orange slightly from being completely burned off.

The little stump of its arm turned hard and clear, as it turned into glass.

Aife was breathing hard and sweating even harder as heat fell off her skin, as though fire danced across her entire body.

Though she wasn't finished yet.

The creature was still standing before her, and recovering from its tantrum.

It glared towards her and she cursed.

"Screw this." She scoffed and raced towards the creature.

It tried to swing its arm at her to knock her away from getting closer, but she managed to dodge and spin around it.

She held her sword over her head as she slammed it into the creatures torso.

But instead of ripping it out, Aife forced all of her magic into her sword, and into the creature.

Her silver magic swirled from her hands, into her sword, and then into the creatures lower torso.

Her magic exploded inside the creature and sand blew out towards her as the creatures head fell down. Aife was pushed back as sand flee straight at her, forming sharp pricks and cuts over her exposed skin.

Its head slammed into the hard stone floor as sand flew across the room, scattering across the floor to cover up the stone tiles.

The sand over its head fell as well, and exposed a disgusting skull with one ruby eye still in place.

Aife wanted to collapse. Her magic was drained and she wanted desperately to sleep or die... She didn't really care now, nor could she even think straight.

But she wasn't finished here.

The head shook itself awake and glared at her as it started to bobble towards her.

She growled and cursed and could barely lift her sword up towards the creature as it jumped towards her.

When it was close enough, Aife jabbed her sword forward and stabbed it into the creatures ruby eye, making it crack around her blade.

It started to crack even more, and Aife ripped her sword out mercilessly while making a jagged cut along the side of its skull as well.

The thing screamed at her and started to shake wildly while it screeched. More cracks grew along the skull and it started to bobble around the room pathetically.

Finally, it froze, and it exploded into sharp pieces of bones everywhere.

Aife dropped to the floor as the sharp bone pieces flew over her, barely missing her back as she pressed herself closer to the ground. Her sword flew against the wall and shattered into bits.

And then, it was over...

Aife felt like she could die.

She closed her eyes for a second longer and swallowed hard as she pushed herself up.

'Okay... Now I really need a new sword...' She thought as she glanced over at the shards of metal that use to be her sword.

Her entire body shook as she stood, threatening to crumble at any time.

There was a loud scraping noise, and the sand in the centre of the room started to tremor and shake as it slowly sank. Aife watched as a stairway now appeared, and the walls around the room started to crack and fall apart.

"Shit..." She breathed out and limped towards the door way.

A huge chunk of the wall fell, followed by other sharp looking tiles that crumpled to the ground. Aife moved faster and quickly limped down the spiral stairs as more of the strange pit began to crumble and fall apart.

Once she finished going down the stairs, something smashed into the entrance of the stairs. Aife looked up to see a large piece of tile pressed against the small entrance.

"Lovely... There better be another exit..." She grumbled.

She moved down the underground hall. This one looked a lot cleaner then the other ones, and the roof and walls were at a good distance away from her. They were decorated with the same kind of pattern as the Tower of Spirits walls.

There were a few more stairs that appeared in front of Aife as she made a turn to her left.

Aife gasped as she looked up to see a silvery light coming from the new set of stairs.

She took them two at a time and saw the sword floating over a stone table and a leather holder resting against the table.

The sword was absolutely stunning. Words could not describe the beauty of it.

The metal was a bright silver with a strip of black mixed with purple down the middle of it. Strange symbols and designs marked the silver metal in wispy patterns. The hilt had black leather wrappings and there was a black upside down triangle on the hilt just where the leather was cut off by the metal.

Aife stared at the sword as a strange silvery aura fell off it like mist.

She slowly reached towards the hilt and carefully wrapped her fingers around the soft wrappings of leather as she pulled it towards her. The symbols glowed a deep purple ever so slightly at her touch.

She carefully brought it up to her eyes so that she could get a better look at it.

The dark streak along the middle of the sword was moving. As though it was liquid darkness just swirling about in it. And the same went for the metal itself, it was so bright and pure that it looked as though it was wavering as well.

'Well... It is made of tears...' She smiled proudly at her new companion. "Thank you." She whispered up towards the heavens.

She couldn't help but giggle at the wicked looking blade.

"Freaking wicked..." She smiled against and hugged it to her chest.

She grabbed the sword holder and wrapped it over her shoulder so that it could hang over her back, and she slide her new sword inside the leather hilt.

Something blue caught her eyes and she turned to see a bright blue light appear beside her on the floor, and she cautiously poked it with her toe.

That's when everything around her turned dark as the blue light engulfed her.

/ :P

Aife gasped as she appeared in front of the Spirit Train.

"Whoah... teleporting light stuff..." She breathed out and then giggled.

She limped over to the train and opened up the back door without mercy as she stepped into the passenger cart, exhaustion slamming against her body.

She closed the door behind her and fell into the seat across from Byrne.

She was breathing hard and she positioned herself so that she was lying flat against the seat, face first so that she didn't lie on her new sword. She let her legs hang out in the middle of the aisle, and her arms crossed to make a sort of cushion for her head.

She could hear the familiar turning of wheels as Anjean moved towards her.

"Ah, your back. How did it go, dear?" Anjean asked pleasantly.

Aife groaned and turned her head toward Anjean.

The old Lokomo gasped as she saw the large cut on Aifes head.

"It went great." She chirped. "I got the sword and almost died!" She smiled and then flopped her head back against the seat, closing her eyes.

"Oh dear... Well you better drink this. Byrnes still unconscious, so it won't be of any use to him." Aife pried open one eye to see Anjean with her hand outstretched towards her with a red potion.

Aife weakly grabbed it and took the cork off with her teeth. She chugged it down with one gulp and almost threw up. It tasted disgusting. The red liquid tasted sweet and bitter at the same time, and Aife choked a little bit on it.

"Ugh..." She groaned and closed her eyes again as Anjean smiled at her "Thanks" Aife mumbled to her as the gross liquid started to grow warm in her veins and seep inside her body to where it hurt the most.

"Aife, that sword of yours contains the tears of both the spirits and the demons. You must use it cautiously." Anjean warned her.

Aife weakly nodded and closed her eyes, barely hearing Anjean move away.

She felt her muscles relax and sleep came and took her in a flash.

/:

It felt like she only slept for a second before someone slammed the passenger door close.

Aife groaned and sat up, forcing herself to sit up straight as she streched.

She glanced back to see Zedla and Link race to Anjean excitedly, both wearing giant grins.

"Anjean Anjean! We got the bow of light! We won't have any trouble defeating Malladus now!" Zelda chirped out, barely able to contain her excitement.

Anjean smiled warmly. "Good, and an arrow from that bow is sure to fell him."

"Right! Now all we need is to know where Malladus is." Zelda said as she continued to race towards Anjean.

"I'm sorry but I can't help you there." Anjean sighed.

Zelda flew past her and fell to the ground in shock.

"But, Anjean..." She started, looking confused and a little upset.

"While you two were busy obtaining to Bow of Light, and Aife with her sword, I have been searching for the Demon Train. That's the train that Malladus used to escape. But he and Cole have hidden it well..." Anjean explained, her eyes closed.

"There is a way to find it." A deep voice cut in.

Everyone turned to look at Byrne.

"Oh, Byrne? I didn't realize you were awake..." Anjean started.

But Byrne only shook his head, his eyes guarded, and turned to face Zelda.

"The area where Malladus was resurrected... Below that altar is a hidden section of tracks." Aife noticed how everyone grew in closer to hear him. "Somewhere down there is the Compass of Light. Only it can lead you to the Demon Train." Byrne explained.

Aife didn't quite know what to say. 'He's actually helping them...' Was the only thing that she could really process.

"Byrne..." Zelda started and leaned in a bit closer.

But he turned towards Link to meet his determined expression.

"The demon train comes from the Dark Realm. But even Cole didn't know it's exact location at first. He had me build a compass using the spirits' power to find the Demon Train in the Dark Realm. Since the compass uses the power of the spirits, Cole and Malladus can't touch it. That's why it should still be where we left it." Byrne told him.

Zelda stared at Byrne in shock, and then her gaze softened.

"... Thank you." She told him kindly and then turned to Link. "Let's go link. We must get the compass as soon as we can." She told him with a bit more confidence.

Link nodded and Anjean turned towards them.

"Before you go, please take this, Link. I think you're the one who is meant to use it." Anjean told him as she lifted her hand up, then a light blue orb appeared and a fancy looking sword appeared.

It had a blue handle with leather wrapping around the handle with a golden triangle on it, and zigzag lines were engraved into the bright silver metal.

"This Lokomo Sword was a gift from one of the spirits." Anjean started again. "As such, it is filled with sacred energy. It felled many evil creatures in its lifetime. Until now, only the spirits have wielded this blade... Use it wisely!" She told him.

Link grabbed the sword, and, as any child would do, he started swing it around dramatically in different poses until he stopped and held it above his head. Looking determined and confident.

"Link, princess, it's in your hands now." Anjean told them as she bowed her head.

Link and Zelda nodded at the exact same time and Anjean turned to go back to her seat in the front.

Aife smiled warmly at Byrne, who's gaze softened when he glanced at her, and then it grew worried.

She was going to ask him what was wrong when Link intercepted then.

"Aife! Did you see this?" Link asked excitedly as he brought his blade right up to her face.

She giggled at the blade that was almost pressed against her nose and she gently pushed it away.

"Yeah, that's really cool Link." She told him.

"Hey! Where's your new sword?" He asked, his eyes gleaming with interest.

"Oh... This?" She asked as she pulled out her wicked looking blade.

Links eyes widened and he carefully touched the metal with his small hand.

"Whoa... Aife, that's pretty awesome." He smiled at her with the kind of smile that would melt a mothers heart in a second.

Aife couldn't help but ruffle his blonde hair.

"Thanks, kiddo, now you better go and get that compass."

He nodded and turned to race over to the engine.

Zelda creeped up to Aife, with something like an evil child sparkle filled her eyes.

"Can we talk about that _thing_ now?" She asked a little impatiently.

Aifes eyes widened. "No!" She told her, blushing.

Zelda only giggled and then smiled warmly at Byrne as she too left to go to the engine.

Aife shook her head and felt sand fall on her lap.

"Uhhh..." She brought her hands up and wildly shook her hair until most of the sand was on the floor. 'Ewe...'

Byrne mumbled something.

"What?" Aife asked.

"What happened to your head?" He asked again.

"Oh," She reached up carefully and pressed her fingers where the cut should have been, but the potion had already closed up the wound. "I'm fine... Just a mean sand creature that couldn't handle my awesomeness..." She told him.

He nodded and then closed his eyes, though he did look slightly amused.

"Byrne?" She asked softly.

He opened his eyes to look at her.

She smiled warmly at him. "Thank you... For helping them."

He blinked and then nodded.

"I-..." He stopped suddenly and looked away. "You should sleep. When they find the compass... There will be no more time for resting." He told her, his eyes looking distant.

She nodded and tried to relax her stiff muscles.

But there was something sick and dark growing in her stomach as the train edged closer to the tower.

/

* * *

A/N: *gasps for air* Done! Omg... It took me over three weeks to write this chapter... Uhhh... First of all I am so sorry it took me forever to finish this chapter... I've just been super busy and I had a wicked writers block... But winter break is coming soon so I should be able to write more...

Alright, a huge thanks goes out to my brother who thought of the 'sand man' thing... Sorry NekoKitty13 I just couldn't think of anything to write about for your ideas! Which is a shame because they were awesome... ;)

Whatever, I wrote most of this today, so I will edit this later... I just felt bad for not updating this story for a while...

Anyways... Just a few more chapters left... :'(

-Whisp


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty Two...

* * *

When they reached the Tower of spirits Aife was asked, a few times, by Zelda if she would come and help them find the compass. But Link insisted that she stayed here to rest.

"Come on, it won't take very long." Link urged Zelda.

The floating girl let out a sigh.

"Oh, alright..." She said, and followed Link out of the train.

Why it was so important, Aife wasn't sure. But she didn't really care because now she could sleep some more before they went after Malladus.

'Holly hell... We are going to fight the Demon King...' Aife leaned up against the trains wall and let her legs dangle over the side of the seat. 'A bloody Demon King! Three kids against a Demon?!' She glanced at Byrne to see he was completely passed out on the seat across from her.

She smirked slightly at the sight and fell easily into a soundless black dream.

- Link POV. -

"EEEEKKK!" Zelda shreiked as she stood on her tip toes to try and get away from the rats that circled her. "LINK!"

Link raced over, after pushing back a red bobble headed monster, and slammed his sword down on the purple rats that circled Zelda.

"Whew... That was scary." She told him through the giant Phantom armor.

Link rolled his eyes and smiled slightly. Here she was, wearing a scary Phantom suit of armor and yet she was the one cowering in fear from rats... Link couldn't help but smile at that, almost tempted to tease her. But he needed to focus on the tower now.

Link was finding this part of the tower a lot more difficult. Especially with all these different Phantoms... Some could even turn into actually balls and others could teleport right beside their victim.

Link was feeling a little nervous.

Not about the phantoms and the tower, he could handle that, but about the final fight coming up. It seemed as though everyone was counting on him to defeat Malladus... 'But... Zelda will be there, and maybe Aife too...' Link thought. He sighed again, thinking that it'll be okay, he won't be alone on this, and they'll be able to do it. 'Yeah... Right...' But he still had his doubts.

They continued through the tower, finding Phantoms with flaming swords and eyeball Phantom things that made weird ringing noises when ever they saw him.

But eventually they were able to reach the compass room. Link raced up the stairs and snatched the compass from its pedestal.

He hoisted it up and presented it to Zelda.

"Great job link!" Zelda exclaimed. "No we can find Malladus and get my body back!"

Link nodded and a blue light appeared beside them. He walked into it and watched as the world was engulfed in a blue light.

- Aife POV -

"Aife!" Someone sang out excitedly.

"Ughnn... No." She growled and closed her eyes tighter.

"Aife wake up!" The voice demanded. "We found the Compass of Light!"

Aife opened her eyes one at a time to see Zelda grinning like an idiot with the Compass of Light on the seat next to her.

'Uhh... Morning people...' Aife grumbled in her mind, and gave Zelda a cheesy thumbs up.

"Do you know what this means?" Zelda asked, obviously hoping that Aife would let her explain.

"No, what?" Aife sighed in defeat.

"It means we can get my body back!" Zelda squealed. Aife waited for the next part. "Oh, and defeat Malladus of course." Zelda added hastily.

Aife smiled and nodded, trying to make her eyes scream 'let me sleep wommun!' without being rude.

Zelda rolled her eyes, taking the hint, and turned to go see Link.

As soon as Zelda entered the front of the train, she started yelling. Aife snickered, 'Poor Link...'

"Link! Look in front! IN FRONT! Who knew this was so close to home..." Zelda told him.

Aife glanced out the window and saw the place where Malladus was hiding the Demon Train.

Her eyes widened at the strange new place, it was right beside Aboda village, which seemed even weirder. There were tall jagged rocks with strange green lines over them that surrounded the portal to the Dark Realm. The portal itself was green with black and purple tendrils of magic swirling through and around it. All on a small island that looked as though no one had ever touched it before.

Aife glanced at Byrne to see his guarded expression as he gazed out the window and to the portal. His eyes flickered to hers and softened slightly as he gave her a silent nod of reassurance. She nodded back and looked towards the window nervously.

Anjean spoke up then.

"Listen princess and Link, the two of you must gather your courage and continue." She told them.

They entered the portal and everything went black.

Aife gasped as they were now in the Dark Realm. There were still tracks everywhere bit instead of land, there was darkness beneath them. Swirls of purple and black clouded the space around the train as it moved forward.

There was strange tear of light on the coming track and Link put the train on full speed as it ran over the tear. Once it touched the tear, they train was engulfed in a bright golden light and it started to move faster. Aife giggled at the rush and glanced out the widow to see a demonic mini train coming towards them.

Link rang out the horn and the train jerked forward, and suddenly, they were going at twice the speed they were originally going. The Spirit Train slammed into the smaller one and instea of the trains catching on fire, the Spirit Train just raced over the other one, knocking it off the track.

Aife snickered and snuck a peek at Byrne who only rolled his eyes at her childish giggle.

This continued with this for the next little bit finding more tears and running over demonic mini trains, and then slipping into strange green portals to travel to another section of tracks in this area.

Aife heard Link give out a cheer as the last demonic train was knocked off the track. The train turned and they entered a larger portal, going deeper into the dark realm.

Now they were on a set of tracks beside two others, with the Demon Train in front of them.

Aife shuddered at the sight of it. The giant train yelled out in fury and raced forward as Link turned onto the next track to get closer.

They caught up to the first cart and the wall of it slid open to reveal barrels on it with skulls painted on them.

One of them dropped out and exploded in front of the train, making it rattle from the explosion.

"Link pay attention!" Zelda shreiked.

Aife got out of her seat and raced to the front of the train to see Link busily pulling and turning handles to keep the train from crashing into the Demon Train.

Aife snuck onto the cannon and turned it towards the Demon Train.

"How do I use this?!" She called over at them, the wind whipping her hair around wildly.

Link looked back at her, surprised covered his expression but he quickly covered it up with a serious look.

He told her that she need to pull the lever on the side and then press the button on the other side to release a cannon ball. She did so, very quickly, and the ball shot out towards the barrel, making it explode.

The Demon Train yelled out in fury and Aife fist pumped the air to fire another. After she had gotten all four of the barrels the Demon Train screamed in fury as it's cart broke off and exploded, making the train shorter. It raced ahead of them into a giant green portal. Link raced forward as well and the Spirit Train was engulfed in a bright green light.

They re-appeared on similar tracks, only this time Link had to dodge flaming piles of tracks and from slamming into the Demon Train from the limited room on the tracks. Aife loaded up the cannon and aimed it towards the Demon Train, feeling completely bad ass with her giant cannon.

'I've got to get one of these...' She made a mental note to find out from Link where he found his...

The Demon Train opened up the next cart to reveal pink lasers shooting out in different directions. Aife quickly shot out another cannon ball, and it slammed into the first laser, making it explode.

The Spirit Train moved forward a bit and she fired again, only this time she missed. The laser got closer to the side of the train and Aife rapidly shot out cannon balls until it hit its actually target, but just barely.

Aife smirked and fired at the next one, causing it to explode into pink dust. Aife fist pumped the air and then something burned past her arm.

She cried out at the white hot pain that burned along her arm. She flinched away and fired at the laser that had burned her, after it exploded the Demon Train yelled as its second cart exploded and fell off. Aife gripped her arm and hissed at the pain, it would heal fairly soon but she would definitely be getting a scar. The train lurched forward into the next giant green portal.

The Spirit Train chased after it, and Link struggled to keep the train away from the explosive barrels that were placed all over the tracks.

The Demon Train started to move onto different lanes, making Link have to slow the trains speed, finding that the breaks no longer worked here.

Link move the train away from the other one so that there was a track space between them. Aife continued firing at the new blue lasers that shot out and then disappeared every now and then to avoid being hit. The Demon Train moved closer to the Spirits Train and Aife cursed as it slammed against their train. Aife held onto the cannon as the Spirit Train was nearly knocked off.

She growled and fired madly at the lasers from the other train, hitting one over and over again until it exploded. She continued to fire more, ignoring the burning in her arm. Eventually, she hit the last laser and that cart started to explode as it fell off.

Link rushed the train forward and yelled at Aife to fire as many cannon balls as possible at the front of the train.

"With pleasure." She said and readied the cannon to face the Demon Trains face.

She fired wildly at the face, it winced and yelled at her, but she didn't let up until it started on fire. Even then she continued to fire more at the Demon Train, forcing it to slow down.

The Demon Train screamed and yelled and started to slow more as flames licked the sides of it. Aife was breathing hard and she wiped away the sweat beads that formed on her forehead. The Spirit Train stopped beside the larger one and Aife climbed off of the cannon to meet everyone else inside.

/\\\

"This is it." Anjean told them all.

Aife was sitting beside Byrne and Link and Zelda stood beside them, they were all watching Anjean intently.

"Once we defeat Malladus, all of this can end." Anjean continued.

Zelda nodded determinedly, with a fierce look in her eyes. Link watched Anjean with a serious expression, preparing his mind for what was going to happen. Aife bit her lip and nodded. 'Almost done...' She couldn't help but feel some sort of rush flood through her when she thought about the coming battle... She felt something warm gently grab her hand. She didn't look at Byrne, but instead, held his hand back tightly to thank him for trying to comfort her.

Anjean groaned slightly. "I shall accompany you from here on. It's too dangerous for just the two of you."

Byrne stiffened as he gasped and groaned from the sudden pain in his chest. He looked at Anjean with pain in his eyes.

"But your wounds from our battle are still fresh. And what's to come will be very demanding." He told her. "It's my turn now, master. It's... The least I can do." He added softly.

Link looked at Byrne in surprise, and Zelda looked at Link, unsure of what to do.

"No! You are far too wounded to fight against Malladus." Aife put in. "I'll be able to help them better then either of you. I helped bring Malladus here, I can take him down." Aife growled.

"No." Byrne told her. "This is beyond your experience."

Aife opened her mouth to defend herself but she was cut off. Zelda looked to Link again and Link and her both nodded to each other.

Zelda spoke up in a kind voice to everyone.

"Yes, Anjean, it's time for you to rest. Link and I can take care of them. After all, it's just Malladus and Cole. It'll be a piece of cake." She turned to Byrne. "You should stay behind too, Byrne. And Aife, you do not have to come... You've been through enough. And you're all too injured to help us now." Zelda added softly as she smiled warmly at them.

"..." Byrne was speechless as he stared at her. Aifes gaze softened, 'She will make an excellent Queen...' She thought.

Anjean stared at her in surprise and then bowed her head in respect.

"Hm, as you wish, my dear. It's up to you two, then, Link and Zelda. May the spirits be with you." Anjean told them, she turned and made a sphere of light appear, and inside came a Phantom suit. "I can do no more. You must go forth on your own." Anjean told them.

"Thank you for everything, Anjean." Zelda turned to Link. "It's time for us to go, link." Link started to go to the exit. "Oh, but one last thing before we go. Once we put all this behind us, well both resume our normal lives. When that happens, what are you going to do? What will you become?" Zelda asked.

Link smiled and whispered his answer in her ear.

Zelda stared at him for a moment and then smiled softly. "I see... Well, I think we can go now, Link." Zelda flew into the Phantom suit and they both exited the cart.

Anjean smiled after them. "Hm, her ancestors would be proud of her." She noted.

Byrne stood and stared after them in silence beside Anjean.

Aife stood and started to leave, grabbing her new sword and moving past the two Lokomos.

"Where are you going?" Byrne asked as he grabbed her wrist.

She frowned slightly. "I'm going to kick some Demon King ass." She told him, expecting some long lecture of how it was too dangerous and that she'd only get hurt...

"... Then I'm coming with you." He told her.

She was a bit surprised at that.

He smirked. "Did you really think I would sit here and do nothing?"

She shook her head. "You really shouldn't come, you are far too wounded..."

"I'll only stay if you do." He told her stubbornly, knowing full well that she was not going to stay behind.

"... Fine!" She snapped and started to leave. "But if you get hurt there's going to be hell to pay..." She grumbled, and fake glared at him as he moved past her.

"Of course." He told her, amusement in his voice as he stepped out.

Aife turned to Anjean, opening her mouth to thank her.

"Thank you." Anjean told her before Aife could speak.

"... For what?" Aife asked, confused.

"For helping Byrne. I have not seen him that like that for a very long time..." Anjean explained. "It makes me proud to see that he has finally found someone like you."

Aife felt her cheeks grow warm.

"... Thanks, Anjean..." Aife closed her eyes for a moment.

"Good luck child." Anjean told her softly. "May the Spirits guide over you."

Aife nodded determinedly and stepped out of the train to meet Byrne.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23... :O

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\Links POV/

Link climbed up on top of the Demon Train and glared at Cole, who had his back turned to them.

"You've gone far enough, Cole. This is where it ends." Zelda told him dangerously through her Phantom suit.

Cole sighed dramatically. "You again... The Demon Kings return is nigh, you know. Yet, here you are, making a nuisance of yourselves!" Cole turned towards them looking outraged. "You insolent little fools! It's time you received the punishment you deserve!" He snapped his fingers and the train jerked forward, making Link wobble slightly.

Cole looled up at Malladus floating above him with dark pink tendrils of magic flowing through him. Cole reached his hands up towards him

"Your Majesty! Your resurrection is complete!" Zelda's body started to glow a dark pink electricity and started floating backwards slightly. "Please use your power to destroy these two!" Cole demanded.

Malladus opened his eyes and landed on top of the train behind Cole with dark magic spiraling around him.

"This is it, link!" Zelda told him, readying her sword.

Link nodded fiercely as they both glared towards their opponents.

Cole laughed insanely and disappeared. Link growled and raced towards Malladus, who watched him with his intense yellow eyes.

The different carts started to shift back and forth, making Link wobble a bit while Zelda's Phantom suit didn't seem to be effected. Malladus fired out a shot of dark magic at Link, knocking him back.

Link groaned and Zelda stood in front of him.

"Stay behind me!" She told him as he stood.

Cole appeared beside them and shot out electric blue rats.

Link cursed for the first time in his short life.

"EEEEKKK! Link save me!" Zelda shrieked as she froze in her place from the rats that came closer.

Link sliced them away and Zelda let out a sigh of relief.

"Come on! We have to reach Malladus!" Link yelled over the bellowing wind.

Zelda nodded and pushed forward as Malladus shot a bright pink laser that made Zelda walk slightly slower, but she still pushed forward as Link tried to keep Cole away.

Link sliced his sword at Cole, missing from him disappearing, but he did keep him from sending out more rats and sparks of dark magic at Zelda.

Cole shot out some more rats, but Zelda didn't seem to notice. It looked as though they were heading straight to the weak Phantom spot on her back... Link gasped and quickly whipped his sword at the rats so that they didn't touch Zelda, slashing his sword back and forth at them.

Cole growled in disappointment and then fired out a sharp ball of magic at Link, making him fall back and almost fall off the train.

"Ugh!" He yelled and pushed himself up as he slashed his sword at Cole, making a slight cut across his pudgy cheek as the chancellor disappeared again.

Zelda was getting closer to Malladus, and Cole shot out even more rats at her.

Links eyes widened and he raced towards Zelda, but was a little to late. On of the rats disappeared into Zeldas back and her body froze up as blue electricity shot through her.

"Argh!" She turned to Link with blue eyes glowing over her helmet instead of pink. "Link! I can't control my body!"

There were blue strings attached to Zelda's back, and Cole held the ends of them like a puppet master. He jerked the ropes and laughed as Zelda's body was forced towards Link.

Cole made Zelda slam her sword towards Link and he jumped out the way. He dodged a few more hits and rolled behind Zelda and popped up while bringing his sword up as well to cut through the ropes that held Zelda.

Zelda fell down, her eyes back to the original pink coloring through the Phantom suit as she shook her head.

Malladus hit Link with a laser and he was thrown back.

"Thank you for rescuing me." Zelda told him and she continued towards Malladus.

Link nodded and got up and walked behind Zelda's back, avoiding Malladus's lasers and keeping Cole away from taking control of her.

Zelda was right in front of Malladus now, and she grabbed him. They struggled and Malladus started to float upward to try and shake Zelda off, but she wouldn't let go. Cole started to freak out as he floated around nervously. Zelda yelled at Link.

"Link! Use an arrow from the Bow of Light!" Zelda yelled over as she struggled to keep Malladus from getting away.

Link pulled out the bow and raised it towards where Malladus was struggling. He pulled back the string, feeling the tension in the rope grow and he waited as lights were drawn to the arrow, meaning that it was ready to fire.

Link waited until Malladus was in clear shot, aiming for his chest.

Link fired and prayed to every spirit and goddess that he didn't miss.

The arrow hit Malladus's chest and yellow electricity started growing around Malladus from the arrow of light. Malladus screamed out in fury and pain.

"Your Majesty..." Cole breathed out in horror as the yellow light started to grow, he floated away quickly to avoid the coming explosion.

"You won't escape this time, Malladus!" Zelda yelled and struggled to contain Malladus.

"RELEASE ME!" The Demon King screamed and thrashed more.

Link stared in horror and fear, and he took a step forward.

"Link! Be careful! Don't worry about me! Just get away from Malladus!" Zelda commanded.

Link ignored her and charged towards them. The yellow light grew and from the arrow of light and exploded, making the Demon train blow up and fall through the surface of the dark clouds that surround them.

/Aifes POV (back track slightly) \\

Aife stared at the enormous Demon Train that stood before them.

"Alright... Here we go... Off to fight a Demon king..." She said awkwardly as she swung her arms back and forth nervously.

Byrne touched her arm.

She looked at him and he glanced up at the ladder before them.

"Ladies first?" He asked politely.

She giggled. "Oh? Are you too scared to go first?"

He rolled his eyes. "If you were to fall, I'd be able to catch you." He explained.

"Suuurrreee..." She playfully bumped her arm into him. "Oh I know that... Come on, let's finish this."

Byrne nodded in agreement and followed her up the ladder.

She was about half way up when the train jerked forward, making her lose her grip slightly from the thin bars and scream.

"Hang on." Byrne commanded as he moved up closer so that his back was pressed against hers and his hands gripped the bars in front of her to stop her from falling off.

She closed her eyes and looked up. They were about half way up the train, and going up was going to be a hell of a problem now that the train was moving full speed.

"Can you grab onto my neck?" Byrne asked in her ear.

She glanced back at him slightly, and then looked down at the thin bar she stood on.

She shook her head. "I can't!"

"Aife, you have to. We need to get to the top." He told her.

She sighed and cursed as she tried to move her body so that it would turn and face him. The fear of slipping and falling made her hesitate. She slowly moved her one arm around his neck and and moved her leg so that it faced him.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes to hold back a scream as she quickly looped her other and around his neck, only hanging onto him now to stop from falling.

He started up the ladder and she held on tighter and buried her face into his neck, trying not to choke him while trying to not fall. He groaned slightly as he pulled them both up the ladder. The wind whipped past them and her hair fluttered about wildly. The darkness below them swirled and twisted with purple and black tendrils, licking at their feet.

Byrne finally reached the top of the train and told her it was okay to let go now, as he pulled himself onto the top of the train. She slowly removed her arms from around his neck. He winced and groaned again.

"Sorry..." She mumbled as he helped her up.

He frowned and was about to speak but was cut off from the sudden deep scream that came from the front of the train.

They whipped their attentions toward the front of the train to see a bright yellow light, expanding over Phantom Zelda and Malladus, who was struggling and yelling as Zelda kept him contained in her grip.

Aifes eyes widened and Byrne grabbed her and pulled her close into his chest as the yellow light grew and exploded. Making the Demon Train catch on fire and explode as well. Byrnes grip tightened around Aife. The train fell and Aife screamed as her and Byrne also fell into the sea of darkness below them.

-

There was a loud pop, and Aife groaned as she slowly opened her eyes.

"Ah-!" She winced at the pain that shot through her as she moved. She glanced around herself and gasped.

She was outside of some sort of large stone ring that was surrounded by jagged rocks and pieces of the Demon Train. And somehow she was lucky enough to not have landed on those.

'That would have sucked... Wait... Where's Byrne?' She became panicked and she stood up, groaning slightly. She looked into the ring to see Link lying on the ground, not moving.

"Link!" She yelled out, but he did not stir.

She watched Zelda race over to him. She wasnt that far away that she couldn't hear, but she stood up shakily and moved closer to them through the jagged rocks.

"Link! Link! Please open your eyes, Link!" Zelda cried out, Link opened his eyes slowly to see Zelda. "Are you all right?" Link smiled at her and then gasped and groaned. "Oh, no." Zelda touched his arm, looking concerned and terrified.

She glance up and gasped as her eyes widened.

Malladus was out of Zelda's body, which floated above the ring. He looked like an enormous smoky skull, that was a strange blue color with yellow eyes. Zelda froze for a second and then flew up to her body.

Cole pushed himself off of the ground and yelled at her to stop, but she only flew past him, making him fall back.

Zelda flew straight through her body. And nothing happened. She gasped in horror and flew back to try and get into her body, but again, she only went right through it. She tried again and again desperately, but it still didn't work.

"Stop! That vessel belongs to His Majsty!" Cole yelled out in fear at her. "Quickly, Your Majesty! You must hurry back to Zelda's body!" Cole turned to the smoky, floating skull.

Malladus roared into the air and charged towards Zeldas body. But Zelda didn't notice it, she only stared at her body hopelessly.

"Why... Why isn't this working?" She questioned. She turned and saw Malladus racing towards her.

She screamed in horror as Malladus charged towards her. She closed her eyes and raised her arms for the coming blow.

Suddenly a purple force field appeared in front of Zelda. She looked up to see Malladus was blokes from getting to her, and then gasped as she turned to look down at the person that showed up.

Byrne entered the ring, his claw raised as his magic pulsed around it to keep his force field in place. He grunted in pain.

"You cannot give up now!" He told her. "Your body has the sacred power of the spirits! Now concentrate on reclaiming it!" Byrne gripped his chest and groaned. "After all... Didn't you say you wanted to have a few words with me?" He added playfully.

Aife gasped and stared at Byrne. She shook her head and moved quickly towards them, feeling something sick twist in her stomach. 'Somethings wrong... Somethings very wrong...' Her mind rambled.

Zelda stared at him for a moment then bowed her head and faced her body. Her aura started to glow a soft golden color that beamed out from her body.

"If there really is a sacred power in my body... Please let it hear me!" Zelda prayed. "Tetra! Please give me your blessings!" She called and slowly her and body were pulled closer together as they joined and a bright light flashed between them.

Zelda screamed as she fell from the sky, no longer floating.

"Go now! Right now!" Byrne yelled at Link.

Link stood and raced under Zelda who ended up falling on him instead of him catching her.

"Mmmhh... Am I... Back?" Zelda stared down at her hands as she sat up. She squealed happily and turned to hug Link. Link blushed deeply at first but then relaxed.

The two kids glanced up in horror as they heard Byrne yell out in pain.

Aife felt ice cold fear seep through her veins as she watched in absolute horror as Byrne was lifted into the air.

Black/purple magic surrounded him in a large orb shape and tendrils of darkness shot through his body as Malladus lifted Byrne into the air with his dark magic.

Cole laughed insanely as Byrne struggled to break free, groaning from the pain.

Aife gasped and screamed.

"BYRNE NOOO!" She screamed and raced towards them, fear flooding through her, making her heart race so fast that she could no longer hear or focus on anything but him.

She screamed at them to stop and Byrne glanced at her weakly, there was a sad look in his gaze, that made Aifes heart want to snap completely.

Her heart stopped from the fear that flooded through her, and she continued to race towards them. 'No no no no no no!' Her mind screamed in horror.

She watched in slow motion as Malladus slowly fired out a final shot of dark magic towards Byrne. She screamed again as she realized that he was going to die.

"NO!" She screamed, her lungs were burning from her screaming and breathing heavily from running.

Aife ran through the jagged rocks faster, no longer paying attention to anything. Tears filled her eyes and her mind screamed at them to stop. Everything became a blur and a rush through her watering eyes which caused her to trip and fall over one of the sharp rocks that caught her foot. Her head hit the grey stones hard.

Then everything went black.

\/\/\/\/

* * *

**A/N:** ... *covers ears with hands to ignore angry readers screaming* ... I'm sorry okay! I mean, I'm sorry for not updating soon! I'm not sorry about the cliffhanger... :) *is hit by something sharp* Okay! I promise I'll post the next chapter soon! (It's been half done for months now...) Unless... this is the last chapter... *laughs evilly* ^_-

Chow!  
-Whisp


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24z... C:**

**A/N: Hey I'm back! Okay, before you get to the chapter, I have I few things I'd like to say:**

**1- I am very sorry how late this came. I've been sick for the past week and I've been going through a really weird writers block.**

**2- I edited/updated most of the chapters, and I will be fixing up the rest soon. I've just added a few things (nothing super important) and fixed up most of the mistakes.**

**3- I can honestly say that I've had this idea for this chapter ever since I finished Spirit Tracks (which was a few years ago), and the rest of it popped into my head a few months ago when I was washing some dishes... Anyways, I hate to say this but please review and let me know what you think.**

**4- This will not be the last chapter.**

**Enjoy!**

**~Whisp**

* * *

"Byrne!" Aife gasped as her eyes flew open.

A blinding white light stabbed into her eyes, making her gasp and close her eyes tightly. She rubbed her eyes furiously and started to breathe quicker. She re-opened her eyes slowly and panic filled her as she realized she was no longer in the same place that the Demon Train had crashed in.

Instead, she was in some sort of endless white room. She pushed herself up with shaky arms and brought her hand to her face. All that ran through her mind was Byrne... 'Byrne... No he can't be-... He can't be-' She couldn't even bring herself to think that about that word.

She felt sick. Her body was shaking so badly that she couldn't even move now. Everything was so confusing and her mind couldn't grasp what was happening. Tears started to form in her eyes and she bit her lip to hold then back.

She stood, her knees wobbling a bit, and looked around herself, feeling terribly exposed in the strange white room.

'Oh shit. I'm dead aren't I? Shit! Oh no... No no no... Byrne...' She closed her eyes and tried to will back the tears that threatened to spill. 'This can't be the end... Not like this!' She brought her hands to her face and her breaths grew more ragged. Her heart slammed inside her chest, her blood turning cold as something inside her felt as though it was cracking.

She heard something whisper past her ear and she froze slightly. She turned around slowly and saw a women standing in front of her, making her jump slightly. Behind the woman there were also strange orb things floating behind her, all in different shapes and colors, wavering above the ground.

The woman looked very similar to Zelda, only her blonde hair looked a bit more like a light golden honey kind of blonde, and much longer, reaching past her feet while floating around her legs. She wore a long white dress with white ribbons billowing around it. The women was very tall, easily over six feet, though it did not look strange, instead, she looked beautiful, flawless even. Like she was glowing slightly.

Aife felt like a complete mess in comparison to her, her hair tangled and wind blown, her clothes dirtied and cut open in different areas, she even had some dirt mixed in with the blood on her forehead.

The woman's bright ocean blue eyes watched Aife with a strange sort of warmness. As though she did not care a thing that Aife looked like a mess, nor did she appear to be judging Aife on this.

_'Hello, child_.' She spoke softly in a voice that sounded distant but at the same time right in Aifes head. Almost as though it was an echo. The voice sounded familiar...

"You... You're the one who spoke to me in my dreams!" Aife blurted.

_'Yes, child of two worlds, I am the Goddess of this world_.' She told her with her silk like voice.

Aife stared in confusion and blinked hard a few times as her mind tried to process things.

'The... Goddess? Then are those the Spirits?' Aife frowned and then mentally cursed. "So I really am dead..." She groaned out loud. 'Oh no... No this can't be happening... Not when-... Not when we were so close...'

The Goddess gave a soft laugh that sounded like chimes.

_'My dear child, there is no reason to be alarmed_.' She told the girl kindly. '_You are still very much alive, this is only temporary.'_

Aife felt herself starting to choke up again. "But I-... I need to help Byrne, he's... They're going to kill him!" She blurted, tears started pricking at her eyes. 'They're going to kill him...' Her mind echoed in a whisper that made her shuddered.

She rubbed her eyes furiously, feeling embarrassed for crying in front of the Goddess herself. 'Great...'

_'Do not be ashamed, child... Just be calm, for there is a way you can help him... But there will be a price_.' The Goddess told her, staring deeply into Aifes eyes.

"Anything." Aife breathed out, suddenly paying more attention.

_'Hmm..._' The Goddess mused. _'Do you truly love him?'_

"Yes." Aife said, it felt right to finally admit to it.

_'What are you willing to give up for him?'_ The Goddess questioned further.

"Everything." Aife told her.

'_... Hmm, what you say is true... So I will aid you... Malladuses magic over Byrne is too strong for you to be able to break through it alone_.' The Goddess started.

"Thank you..." Aife breathed out.

_'Do not thank me quite yet, child, for what I am about to say may make you change your mind.'_

Aife waited.

_'In order for Byrne to live, you must give up every aspect of yourself that is Lokomo. Your strength, magic, everything that defines you part Lokomo will be gone and given to him so that he can live.'_

Aifes eyes grew wide. 'Then... I would be human...' She thought.

She knew she would easily give that up for him, but she could not help the thought that wondered in. 'Becoming the very thing I've dreaded for so long... The very part of myself that I have loathed since I was a child...'

_'Yes_.' The Goddess told her.

Aife closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath. "... Then, I will." She told the other woman, trying not to let fear slip up her tongue.

_'That is not all, child_,' The Goddess warned her. _'You would also loose all of your memories of the Lokomo Guardians from this life. All knowledge of their existence, you being part of one, Byrne being one as well, and their history will be taken from your mind_.'

'Steem.' Flashes of her as a child laughing with her uncle who could have very well been her father flashed through her mind. Her entire life had been with him, through the best and worst of times, he had always been there. He supported her, understood her, and had always cared for her even when everyone else seemed to have abandoned her.

She closed her eyes and nodded.

_'Are you certain?_' The Goddess asked.

She looked up at the Goddess.

"I..." She swallowed down her fear and spoke in a confident voice. Lifting her chin up to meet the Goddesses gaze. "I understand that by doing this I would also lose all my memories of Steem, and though I love him greatly, it would be selfish of me to keep memories instead of saving a life. Who, I know has done terrible things in the past, but deep down I know he's worth it all for." She knew that loosing Byrne would be far worse than loosing her memories and Lokomo blood. No... She couldn't even fathom loosing Byrne now... The very thought of being without him made her sick.

The Goddess smiled warmly at her and walked towards her. Her dress rippled around her ankles, making it look as though she was walking through ripples of water.

_'Your power, will bring his strength back. Your wisdom, will grant him his true mind. And your courage... Will allow his soul to stay near to yours.' The goddess told her. 'My child, you will lose your magic, your strength, and all of your memories of the Lokomos shall be erased, nor shall you remember this meeting. After the casting of your final spell to aid Byrne, you will be entirely human. Do you except this fate?_' The Goddess aksed, growing serious now as her velvety voice echoed around Aife like chimes.

"Yes." Aife did not hesitate to answer, her voice completely confident, her chin held high.

The Goddess smiled approvingly. The sight was absolutely breathtaking.

_'Your souls are bound together... This will not be the only life you meet in. Remember that_.' The Goddess told her earnestly.

Aife nodded and smiled, tears trailing past her cheek. Catching the dirt there and making dark streaks along her skin.

The Goddess brought her hand up to Aifes cheek, smiling warmly like a mother would to her daughter, making Aifes breath catch in her throat. _'Then awake, child of two worlds, your love is not dead._' She told her kindly and everything started to fade around her.

She tried to say thank you. But could not tell if the words came out or if her mind only thought it. The Goddess and the Spirits in the white room started to fade even more, like brush strokes of the wind were whisking them away from Aifes eyes.

She was falling now, then something hit the side of her head, hard.

* * *

**_/ back to the real world \\\_**

Aife gasped for air as her eyes flew open, and for a second, she didn't know where she was. She blinked until her vision became a little clearer and then she saw where she was. Everything flew back into her mind, the white room, the Spirits, and the Goddess and what she had told her. All of it flooding back into her mind in a blurry rush.

She looked forward and saw Byrne being lifted into the air by Malladus. 'Did time go back?' She wondered, but she didn't care, this was her second chance.

Her eyes grew wide and she could see that Byrne was struggling against Malladus's magic, and she knew that it would only be a mater of seconds before Byrne was destroyed completely.

She screamed out to him as he yelled out in pain at the dark magic that ripped him apart from the inside. Black tendrils of magic shot through his body and twisted around him, clawing at his skin like jagged and demonic hands.

She had to break through Malladuses magic.

She opened her palms and quickly lifted her hands towards him and concentrated on the energy around him, trying to force him away from Malladus. Similar to what she did to that kid in Aboda Village, just before he was about to jump in the water... But something was blocking her. 'No no no no no... You can't take him... Not like this...' Her mind echoed.

All of her muscles screamed in protest, as she closed her eyes and tried to force Byrne out of the dark energy around him. It was as though she was trying to break through enormous rocks to reach him.

Silver sparks of magic started to grow around her hands. Tears poured down her cheeks, and her entire body shook wildly from the force of trying to use all of her strength and magic at once.

She pushed herself further, her muscles aching and she gave out a cry of pain as she forced all her energy into her palms. Forcing it all together to make the most powerful spell she had ever cast in her life. But there was still that block. The magic that Malladus was using was too powerful for her to break through. 'No!' She glared and growled at Malladus as she continued to try and find a hole in his spell. If she didn't release her spell soon, it would back fire on her, but if she released it too early, there would be no effect on Malladuses magic and Byrne will die.

'No. No he will not. I will not let that happen.' She clenched her jaw and tried to force Malladuses magic apart. She just needed some more power and then she wouldn't need an opening... 'Almost... There...'

She felt something warm grow in her blood and flow through her arms and into her hands. Purified magic... The Goddess really was helping her. She closed her eyes tighter and imagined forcing all that magic and energy together, readying it to fire out.

Silver sparks crackled around her hands and arms, and she clenched her jaw, knowing that even the slightest mistake for this spell would cost her her life. She yelled and felt the power of her magic build up more, desperate to be released.

'This is it...' Her mind whispered.

And then, when she released her magic... It snapped.

She screamed in pain as she felt something being teared from her viciously. The giant silvery orb that grew in palms shot out towards Byrne in a flash of light.

Tears rolled down her cheeks and she clenched her jaw against the pain. It was like her soul was being ripped from her body, all of her energy was being forced out to help Byrne, being ripped away from her grasp. It was as though someone was ripping the very muscles off of her arms, shoulders, back, legs, everywhere, just ripping them off one by one, and leaving her completely exposed and vulnerable.

Snap.

Everything happened in a blur. As something inside her just snapped.

She felt the last of her magic and energy being stripped from her body and sent towards Byrne. She screamed at the agony as her body felt as though her entire soul was torn violently away from her. And then she was falling, like it was her magic that had kept her up, all of her strength, gone. Malladus was just about to rip Byrne to shreds, a dark orb starting to grow inside Byrne and expanding outwards, when the last of her magic just barely made it in time to surrounded him, making a silver flash.

She watched as Byrne disappeared at the same time the dark magic, that would have torn him apart, burst into purple/black shards where he use to be from not reaching its original target.

She watched hazily, her heart pounding in her ears and her lungs demanding for more air. Everything was in a slow motion haze, no light, no feeling, no sound except for her steady heart beat that flooded through her ears. She fell to her knees, and then face forward as the last of her magic was taken away, like the entire world was pulling her down. Her body just collapsing from being pushed too far. She heard a bang, but did not feel her body hit the ground.

She turned her head to the side weakly. Something was burning her left hand now. She looked over weakly to see a black, upside down triangle dimly glowing on her hand, but she did not bother to think what was happening anymore.

Her mind was slipping now, her thoughts became blurred and she could no longer hear anything except for a high pitched whining noise.

Flashes of Steem pasted in her mind, lazily wondering by in a blur as each of the Lokomos appeared as well. She watched herself meet Byrne all over again... And then they were gone. They had never been there, and will never return... Everything went pitch black as soon as her eyes closed, cool tears trickling down her cheeks.

And then... Nothing.

* * *

**- back to the others -**

Cole laughed insanely as he watched Byrne disappear, thinking that it was the work of his Lord.

Zelda gave a strangled cry in horror as Byrne disappeared with a flash of light. Cold fear and sadness filled her as she felt something break inside herself. 'No!' Her mind screamed in fear.

"Bravo, Your Majesty! Bravo!" Cole beamed, laughing and floating about.

Malladus knew perfectly well that the servant of the Spirits was not dead, and he was not impressed with Cole for not being able to realize that as well. Malladus would have been able to feel the Lokomos soul separate from his body, but instead, he had been removed before the dark magic reached him...

Cole smiled slyly. "But time is short, Your Majesty. Please do away with the boy and capture Zelda." Cole commanded, and gave Zelda and Link an evil grin.

The foolish foolish chancellor...

Malladus growled into the air in outrage at Coles command and ignorance.

Cole turned towards the Demon King, completely confused. "Your Majesty?" Cole hesitated. Malladus roared out and opened his mouth wide. "Please no!" Cole screamed as Malladus charged forward and consumed him in a flash.

Yellow electricity cracked around Malladus and a blue tornado formed around the Demon King as he consumed Cole as his new vessel. It spun widely and sparks of electricity snaked around it, lashing out in flicks of yellow. The winds slashed and screamed in fury at the two kids there who watched in horror, the earth shook beneath them, and then it stopped. When the blue smoke disappeared Malladus landed on the stone ground with a loud thump, in an enormous bull form. A perfect mix between Malladuses blue coloring with Coles horns and orange hair, all in the shape of a very large bull with yellow eyes. Malladus winced and then growled.

"This vessel... Is... Rejecting my spirit." The Demons Kings voice was deep and raspy as though it was filled with smoke and coal. "I'm slipping from it... I can't hold up long. But the world will crumble in the time I have left!" He roared into the air with fury and lust for power.

Tears streamed down Zelda's cheeks as she bowed her head at the loss of Byrne, but she whipped her head towards Malladus, her eyes hardened and fierce.

"Come on, Link! Let's settle this, once and for all!" She said with determination and confidence.

Link nodded with a set determination and readied his sword at the new challenge.

* * *

**- Aifes POV -**

The ground shook beneath Aife and her eyes flew open as she groaned. Her heart slammed in her chest and pounded inside her ears, blocking out all other noises around her. She started to breathe quickly and she was blinking hard at the confusion of everything.

She was lying face first on the cool stone ground with blood pooled around her. Panic filled her at the sight. Her mind was rambled a million times an hour, screaming for help and-... And something else...

She didn't understand. She couldn't understand...

Something was missing. It was though there was some sort of block in her mind, stoping her from bringing back some sort of memory... Or was it even a memory? There was something... Something was empty now... No, it wasn't a block, there was just nothing there. It was gone. But she didn't know what was gone.

But she could remember Link, Zelda, Alfonzo and Niko... And there was... Another... She vaguely remembered golden eyes... Him... But she could not remember his name... 'Why can't I remember his name?' It was there in her mind, she knew that much, it was stuck on the tip of her tongue, just out of reach...

She groaned and tried to push herself off of the cool grey earth, but fell back with a gasp of pain.

'... He was-...' She struggled to remember what had happened with him.

She remembered a bit of him... Being in some kind of cold metal thing... Then strange buildings... His golden eyes, his lips... She closed her eyes as her head started to spin. She vaguely remembered something about him being in trouble... That she had to do something or else he would die...

She couldn't handle all this, things were rushing back and slipping away, and she couldn't tell what was important or meaningless... Strange images whipping past her mind and voices whispering in her ears of things she could not recognize.

Her mind wouldn't let her make sense of all this... And she became very panicked... Thinking of how she was trapped like this now, no where to go, nothing made sense now and she was alone... She didn't even know where she was.

The cold air nipped at her exposed skin and she wanted to disappear. She wanted to leave this place, to scream and cry. To just stop...

She opened her eyes when she heard something scream into the air.

She weakly lifted he head to look forward. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw an enormous blue bull creature roar up into the sky as a golden light appeared on of his back. His yellow eyes glared toward her and she winced at the intensity of them. There was a click in her mind at seeing them, but that was it. Just a click.

She could make out Link and Zelda near the bull thing. Link had a sword, but she could not remember the name of it, and Zelda had a golden bow, pointed towards the bull as he started towards her.

That's when her hand started to burn.

She cried out as she looked down to see a small black upside down triangle in her left hand, it started to glow ever so slightly and it burned even more as the giant bull screamed into the air again. She hissed and clutched it to her chest.

She swallowed hard, and tears pricked at her eyes from not understanding what the hell was happening.

She tried to push herself up again, but failed miserably. Part of her wanted to stay there and cry about how she didn't understand what was happening, but another part yelled at her to stop being so weak to get up and find-...

"Aife!" Someone yelled, causing something in her mind to click as she realized who it was.

Byrne.

* * *

**- Byrnes pov (back track) -**

A strange and familiar silver light engulfed Byrne as the dark magic snaked around him, scratching and clawing at him painfully. He yelled out at the agony, his muscles grew more tense but he couldn't do anything. The light grew until it was all that he could see now, surrounding him and closing him in its strange light and warmth.

There was a pop, and then... Nothing.

For a split second there was nothing. No air, no noise, just... Nothingness.

There was a loud and sudden thud and Byrne gasped and groaned as he hit the hard stone ground.

His eyes flew open and he sat up quickly, making his head spin.

He brought his hand to his face and winced at the pain in his chest and the dizziness in his head.

"Ugh..." He groaned. His head snapped up suddenly, "Aife!" He winced at the sudden pain that shot through his head.

He remembered seeing her race towards him though the jagged rocks, and the expression on her face... It was absolutely heart breaking.

He had to find her.

He searched around frantically and tried to stand, he winced and gasped at the pain that shot through him. He gripped his chest and growled at himself for being so weak.

His mind couldn't wrap around how he had gotten here, but that didn't matter now. He just had to find her.

He turned to where he thought he had last saw her, and then saw something crumbled on the ground a little ways away. At first, he thought it was just a piece of train, but he slowly realized who it was.

He watched her push herself up weakly, but her arms gave out in a flash. She fell back to the ground and stayed there, not moving at all now.

His eyes widened and he limped over towards her over the sharp and jagged rocks.

"Aife!" He called out as he got closer to her.

Her heard turned slightly to look at him, something in his chest swelled at seeing that she was alive. She frowned and her mouth formed a word in some sort of a question but he could not see what it was.

Her head was matted in blood, and blood pooled around her from where she must have fallen.

He crumpled to the ground beside her and pulled her onto his lap.

"Aife..." Byrne breathed out and held her close. "It's okay now... It's okay... Are you injured?" He rushed out and quickly scanned over her body for any wounds. Other then the gash on her head, and the cuts and scrapes along her arms, she appeared to look all right.

She blinked a few times at him and frowned, her body started to shake slightly and she whimpered.

"Aife? Please! Say something!" Byrne said, worry and hurt filling his gaze and voice.

She closed her eyes tightly and he felt her muscles loosen slightly. Her chest was rising and falling heavily but it was starting to slow to a normal pace if not a little ragged as well.

"Don't you dare close your eyes!" Byrne yelled at her. "Look at me." He carefully lifted her head up more so that he could cradle her into his chest.

She opened her eyes and looked up into his intense golden ones.

"Byrne..." She whispered softly, her eyes looking relieved to see him. Then her expression changed into a glare. "You are such an idiot." She growled and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull herself closed to him. "I'm fine." She added as she hugged him.

A weak chuckle escaped his lips as he hugged her closer, being cautious of his clawed hand. He moved his head back to kiss her desperately.

She gasped slightly and Byrne loosened his grip around her. He ran his fingers through her hair and carefully held the back of her head. She kissed him back softly for a second and then pulled back.

Tears streamed down her cheeks and she glanced away from him in embarrassment.

"Aife? Why are you crying?" He asked softly.

She leaned into his chest and let out a shaky breath.

"Because... Because you almost died!" She sobbed out, she growled to herself and muttered 'jerk' under her breath at him. "You almost left me..." Her body started to shake a little.

He moved so that he could see her face. His thumb rubbed away the lines of tears that trailed down her cheeks.

He started to kiss her forehead, her cheeks, and her nose in quick pecks of affection. She smiled a little at that, though her eyes still looked sorrowful and a little heartbroken.

"My gods, Aife, I love you..." He said as he kissed her again and then pulled back. "Is briá liom tú." He murmured. "I-, I was such a fool for not saying that before..." He rambled and hugged her tighter. "I'll never leave you... Ever."

She smiled as his arms engulfed her into his chest. She sighed in relief and nestled closer to his chest. "Okay..." She mumbled into his neck.

He felt her stiffen suddenly and he loosened his grip around her. He pulled back and held her carefully in his arms.

He heard her hiss and he glanced down at her. She was clutching her hand to her chest, and frowning down at it. He lightly grabbed her wrist to reveal a black upside down triangle mark on her hand, glowing ever so slightly.

"What is that?" He breathed out.

She shrugged in response and hugged her hand closer to her chest.

"I don't know." She sighed.

Byrne frowned in confusion and then shook his head. 'Not important right now.' He decided.

"Can you, at least, explain to me how I got here?" He started. "All I saw was a silver light just before Malladus was about to finish me... Did-... Did you do that?" He asked her.

"Do what?" She questioned, glancing up at him.

"You-... You used your magic, didn't you?" He asked.

She frowned into the distance. "Magic? I- I don't know what you're talking about."

Byrnes eyes widened and then he frowned and stared into her eyes, trying to see if she was teasing him or something... But found nothing. He stared at her in confusion and tried to piece together what this meant.

"You... Don't know?" He asked carefully.

She shook her head.

Byrnes eyes were confused and distant. "Anjean will know... She can- she'll be able to figure something out..." Byrne thought out loud. 'Why is Aife acting like this? There is something off about all this...'

"Who's Anjean?" Aife asked, as though she really had no clue.

Byrne frowned and his confusion only grew at that. 'She would not make such light hearted jokes at a time like this unless-' He looked at her and sadness filled his gaze. "You don't remember anything do you?" He asked softly.

She bit her lip and shrugged again. Fear and confusion filled her eyes and she brought her hands up to cover and rub her eyes as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Aife?" Byrne asked softly. "What's going on?"

She flinched. "I can't... I can't remember anything." She sobbed out. "None of this is making any sense!" She growled. Tears trickled down her cheeks and she rubbed her eyes angrily.

"Oh, Aife..." Byrne whispered and pulled her closer into his chest as he cradled her. "What did you do?" He asked softly.

She shrugged weakly, in fear of her voice breaking. "I think I may of broke something in my head..." She sniffed and half smiled weakly.

He chuckled sadly and then sighed. "We'll fix this." He told her. "I don't know how, but we're going to fix this..." He told her determinedly.

She frowned and then nodded. He felt her muscles grow tense as she glanced over to the left.

"What's that thing?" She whispered to him.

"Thing?" Byrne questioned and he looked to the side to see what Aife meant.

That's when something crashed beside them.

Aife gasped as Byrne knocked their bodies flat against the ground as another flaming rock flew over them.

Byrne carefully pushed himself off of her and he gasped and groaned from the pain in his chest.

He carefully pulled her up and they both stood and looked to where Link and Zelda were struggling with the bull creature. Aife watched the bull creature intently, something dark wavering over her cold gaze.

"Malladus," Byrne spat, rage and hatred filling his eyes. "I'm going to murder him..."

"No." She said firmly as she continued to glare over at Malladus.

"What?"

She paused before she glanced at him.

"I'm suppose to fight him, or at least help, not you." She told him.

There was something different in her eyes now, something older...

"No! I'm not going to let you risk yourself like that." He growled.

"And you can't... You can't go... There's something..." She struggled out and then looked up at him. "You have to let me do this. I can't remember any bloody thing, but I know enough that I'm suppose to help them."

"That's not good enough." He snarled, but there was a sadness to his eyes as he knew deep down that she was right. "Stay here." He tried again.

But Aife only shook her head. Byrne sighed angrily as he closed his eyes. 'Why must she be so stubborn?' His mind growled.

He felt something gently trace over his hand making him open his eyes to watch the girl in front of him.

She smiled sweetly at him, which just about took his breath away at the sight.

"It'll be alright..." She told him then something lighter came across her expression. "And plus, you can't keep all of the fun to yourself." She teased lightly.

He brought his hand up to her cheek and pushed her hair back behind her ear, and let his hand rest against her cheek.

"Aife..." He started.

She leaned into his hand and then moved right up to him.

She paused only for a moment before she lightly kissed him.

"I'll be fine." She told him as she pulled back, holding his hand in her own. "I've got this," She reached back to pull out her sword from its sheath. "This thing here that looks fairly helpful..."

He chuckled weakly. "If you do not remember what that is called then there is no way in hell you are going out there." He told her.

She grinned like and idiot.

"I know what it's called... It's called a thingy thing, right?" She teased and Byrne growled. "Relax." She told him. "I'll be fine."

He nodded and held onto to her hand as she slowly pulled away from him, their fingers lingering together before their contact broke off completely.

He nodded to her and she smiled and turned to start towards where Malladus was.

Byrne growled and cursed to himself.

* * *

**-Aifes pov.-**

Aife glanced away from Byrne to resist the urge to just stay there with him. But she had to do this. It felt right, as strange as that may sound, it just made some sense in a way.

'Okay... Okay... It's gonna be okay...' She reminded herself, feeling somewhat lost now that he wasn't near her.

It was almost as though things just made more sense when he was around, or perhaps she just felt safe with him from all this confusion.

"Okay... I'm going to go fight a giant blue bull... That's not so strange, right?" She frowned and then sighed. "Maybe I should be a bit more positive..." She pursed her lips an gripped her sword as she continued forward.

"Alrighty! I can't remember anything and now I'm off to go fight a giant blue bull, that is fantabulous!" She let out a weak giggle at that and felt her body relax slightly.

She looked down and stared at the handle of her blade and saw a black upside down triangle on it, parallel to the one on her hand. She gasped, 'Twinzies!' She thought and smiled. She then bowed her head in shame at making such childish remarks when she should have been focusing on the battle in front of her. 'Focus Aife, focus.'

She quickly raced through the jagged rocks, being cautious not to slip on them. She glared at the demonic bull that roared into the air, making the earth tremble beneath her feet.

It was time to fight Malladus.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 23 + 2 = The chapter you're on. (I'll give you a hint... It's close to 25... Maybe.)**

Still NOT the last chapter, don't worry... It's the second last! ^^ ... *shot* T_T

I know I know... :/ But hey! I have a few special surprise/announcement thingys for you guys on the last chapter (they're not that special... But whatever)... Though I won't tell you yet... Some of you already know about them. ^~^

Hm, what I guess I could say is this, did ANYONE see that coming in the last chapter?  
No?  
Fine... *sulks in corner*

Re Guest review (s):

Raven (Guest) : First, I'm not sure why your review isn't showing up on the review section because I did get an email... Anyways thank you for the review hun'. And yes I am aware of the lack of description in the first few chapters when I first posted it, but I have been going through them and editing it. (I have a thing for small details as well ^^) If you still feel like there is a lack of detail in this story (that is if you decided to continue reading) then please let me know. I will gladly add in more. ^^ (Just let me know what exactly is lacking description.)

Anyways, here it is... The final battle against Mallaudus...

~Whisp

* * *

It was time.

Link almost couldn't believe it. But it was really happening.

He was going to have to fight Malladus and beat him if he ever wanted to see the sun again. He glared towards the demonic bull that stood before them, waiting for them to make the first move. Link distantly wondered if Aife was okay. He hoped that she didn't follow the same way Byrne did...

"Link!" Zelda said, catching his attention and silencing his thoughts. "I'm going to concentrate on channeling my power. While I do that please protect me from Malladus." Zelda instructed.

Link gave her a serious nod and Zelda turned away from him. She closed her eyes, and pressed her hands together, as though she was in some sort of deep prayer. There seemed to be a sort of stillness in the air surrounding her, as though it was an aura of faint peace around her small body.

Link looked to where Malladus stood in front of them again. The Demon King roared into the air, making the earth tremble beneath them in the process. Link gripped the Lokomo sword, taking in comfort of the leather bound hilt. He let out a shaky breath as his heart started to pick up its pace, his knees shook slightly and he swallowed hard. 'This is it...' His mind echoed.

And with that, the battle begun,

Malladus shot out an enormous flaming boulder at Zelda, and Link slashed his sword at it, making it fly off to the side and smash into shattered pebbles in one swift motion.

He almost smiled at that, and he almost thought that maybe this wouldn't be so bad...

Until three more flaming rocks were shot towards him.

Links eyes widened and he raced ahead to smack away the first one, which was quickly replaced by the next. He spun and slammed his sword into the second one and then jumped forward to smash down the third one.

The hot rocks made slight sizzling noises once they shattered into the cool grey stone beneath them, and Link could feel his sword growing slightly warm them.

He stood and stepped back a bit so that he could properly defend Zelda, keeping his sword up and ready for the next attacks.

Malladus roared into the air and glared down at the small boy that stood up against him. Link glared back and positioned his feet so that he could move quickly when needed.

Malladus fired out four this time and Link easily smacked them away with a slash of his sword. Flicking his wrists around easily to greet the approaching rocks. Malladus then shot out four in a perfect line. Link spun and whipped his sword around him in a large arc to hit all four of the fiery rocks, knocking them all away at once.

Link snuck a glance back at Zelda to see that her aura was glowing a strange light pink and gold, pouring from her body as her arms were slowly rising.

There was a loud bang and Link turned to face Malladus at the same time a flaming rock flew straight at him. Link raised his sword, but was too late. The giant rock slammed into him and knocked him away to the side. He yelled out at the sudden pain and with shaky arms, tried to lift himself up.

He glanced up at Zelda to see a deeper golden and pink aura glowing around her body.

His eyes widened as he saw Malladus fire out a rock directly at Zelda. Link scrambled to his feet and raced towards Zelda to stop the rock from hitting her.

"AH-!" Link cried out as the boulder slammed directly into his sword, making the boys small wrists bend back in an extremely painful way. The rock flew to the side and just barely missed Zelda.

His breathing grew more ragged and his heart slammed in his chest, filling his ears with a constant and continuous thump.

Link whimpered slightly at the pain that shot through his legs and arms. He swallowed hard and let out a deep breath.

He stood up straight in front of Zelda now and raised his sword towards Malladus, as of to say I'm ready now.

Malladus screamed into the air and slammed his front claws into the ground and growled at the small blonde boy that dared to challenge him. Malladus then shot out a straight row of four flaming stones, and another row as well.

Link gripped his sword tightly and spun in a circle to reach them all, slashing them away with some effort. He spun again, just barely hitting the rocks, and quickly again until all the stones flew back and into the ground where they shattered to bits.

There was a whoosh noise and a bright golden flash behind Link and Zelda turned to him. Link looked at her to see that her skin had this unearthly brightness to it, as though it was purified in a way with splashes of gold and pink. 'She looks so pretty...' Of course she always did, but now... Link has to will back his cheeks from heating up as he stared at her.

"Thank you for protecting me." Zelda smiled softly. "I'm ready now, Link. Let's combine my sacred power with the power of Spirit Flute. I think we can use them to weaken Malladus!" She exclaimed.

Link nodded, and with that, they were suddenly surrounded with a deep blue and purple barrier with a bright and colorful ground. Beams of light danced around them and struck the strange glowing floor they were on, all while lazily shining through the darkness.

Links eyes widened in amazement at the sudden change in their surrounding, but his attention was quickly caught by Zelda.

"This is it. Just follow along with me Link!" Zelda smiled sweetly at him and that made his heart jump slightly as he grinned back.

Zelda turned from him and closed her eyes as she cleared her throat slightly. Link pulled out the Spirit Flute and waited for Zelda to play out the first notes.

And then, there was a soft singing. Zelda's voice was absolute beautiful as she sang out five notes, a lot more difficult compared to when Link had played with the Lokomos.

When Zelda grew quiet, Link brought the flute to his lips and copied the exact notes she had sang out. He dragged the last one out for a second and Zelda started to sing her part again. Her voice was so sweet, Link couldn't help but smile silently to himself.

When it was Links turn again, Zelda continued to sing different parts, and Link had to remind himself to focus on his own notes and not mess up.

Zelda sang out her part right after him and then a bright light shone from them and up into the air.

Link continued to play his part directly after Zelda, but he couldn't help but glance up when he heard a familiar violin chime in.

Gage, the guardian of the Forest Realm was above them, playing the same tune Link and him had played to restore the tracks in the Forest Realm. Each note lined up perfectly with their own song.

Then, Steem appeared with his lute, his eyes were closed as his old fingers strummed the strings of his lute. Carben, the guardian of the Ocean Realm appeared next with his flute, the high pitched noise blending perfectly with the rest of them. Embrose, the Fire Realm Lokomo appeared after, sternly playing his drums to allow a deep beat for the tune. And finally, Rael came with his clarinet*. Playing the strange notes, that Link had just learned in the Sand Realm, beautifully.

And then, as the last notes were played from each of them, a great shining light appeared and engulfed them all.

With a high pitched whoosh, Link and Zelda appeared back in the area where Malladus was. Malladus screamed into the air as a giant golden light appeared on his back, forming a strange design that looked just like a spiraling target with a bright golden circle in the centre.

"You distract Malladus, Link." Zelda told him, her eyes looked steady and confident, but there was still a sliver of innocence and fear in them. "When I see an opportunity I'll shoot him in the back with the Bow of Light. This is the last battle, so let's make it count!" She told him and he nodded.

The small blonde boy walked towards the enormous demonic bull that stood before him snarling and growing. And with slightly quivering hands, Link took out the Lokomo sword and charged towards the Demon King.

* * *

**A/N: *I don't know what that instrument is called.**

-Aifes POV-

* * *

Once Aife was on the flat surface within the ring Malladus was in her muscles were shrieking and begging her to stop moving, to just rest...

But she had to ignore them, she couldn't waste any time now. She moved straight towards where she saw a familiar boy in green.

There wad a loud and sudden crashing noise and Aife squealed as a large and flaming boulder smashed into the ground in front of her.

She snapped her attention to where it had come from to see another one flying straight at her. Her eyes grew wide and she quickly jumped away to the side, rolling away on the ground as it smashed into the ground just where she use to be. Hot flicks of fire and slivers of rock whizzed past her cheeks and she gasped.

"Bloody bugger..." She breathed out and quickly stood up.

She glanced over at Link to see him slashing his sword at Malladus's leg. The demon whipped towards him, forgetting about Aife now, and glared at Link as he swiped his enormous claw at him.

Only, instead of jumping away like Aife thought he would, Link was smacked away.

The kid cried out at the pain as he slammed into the ground several feet away and struggled to push himself up. He was covered in cuts and blood and looked absolutely exhausted. Aife also couldn't help but notice how young he looked now, how small and innocent he seemed compared to the enormous demon in front of him...

She growled at that, 'He's a bloody kid! Why does he have to put up with this shit?' Her mind growled in fury. She charged towards the giant bull and stabbed her sword into its leg, making black blood splash out to greet her face and blade.

'Ugh... Bull blood...'

Malladus roared and whipped towards her too quickly for her to react, making her wrists pop from the sudden jerk on her hilt.

She glared up at the enormous bull that breathed heavily down on her, his unearthly yellow eyes looking furious.

She growled and slashed her sword up at his lower jaw. Not making as big as an impact as she wanted. He roared at her but she only huffed and jabbed her sword into his foot, making him jerk away and yell in pain.

She yanked it back and somehow managed to roll/jump away as his enormous claw came swooping over to hit her.

Once she was clear from his constant attacks she raced over to where Link had finally gotten up.

She watched in horror as Malladus readied an attack of more fire rocks.

She pumped her legs faster and almost ended up tripping as she reached Link.

"Come on!" She yelled and grabbed his forearm.

Malladus shot out a flaming rock at them and Aife cursed.

She yanked Link into her chest and rolled clumsily away from the giant flaming boulder. Keeping Link close to herself so that he didn't feel the impact of the hard grey stones that she rolled away on. Link gasped in pain and gripped her shoulders tightly as he closed his eyes.

Once they were in a somewhat more clear area Aife slowly loosened her grip around the small boy and carefully helped to lift him up in her arms. He's small body was covered in slashes of dirt and scrapes. He's hands were slightly swollen and bruised and his eyes... They had this sort of haunted look to them, something that no boy should ever have to have. Aife felt the great urge to hug him and take him away from this cruel fate.

"Aife," He started. "He's too... He's too strong.." He winced at his own words as though they pained him to say it.

Her gaze softened. "Come on kiddo," She grinned down at him. "We're going to beat him." She grabbed his arm and he held onto hers too with his small hand, looking up at her with his enormous blue eyes. "Alright?"

He smiled shyly and then nodded determinedly as she helped him up.

"We need to distract him so Zelda can hit the weak spot on his back." Link explained.

Aife nodded. "Let's split up. It'll be easier for us to attack then."

Link glanced at her for a second and then nodded and raced away, as did she after a moment,

She glared at the giant blue bull and raised her sword towards him.

'This ends here.' She thought to the demonic bull creature that rose above her.

He sneered down at her, almost with a hint of amusement in his fierce yellow eyes.

'_You think you can defeat me, mortal_?' A deep and unearthly voice echoed through her mind, spitting the word mortal as though it were poison on his tongue. She glared at him with enough fury to kill.

Aife charged towards him, ignoring what he said, and raised her sword and slashed it down towards his leg, creating a large bloody gash. Sticky blood splashed out to her sword and arms, but she didn't notice.

Malladus screamed into the air and slammed his claw into her in rage. She was tossed to the side with an oof, and he stalked towards her, glaring with absolute hatred.

She growled and pushed herself up, her arms shaking as pain shot through her weary body.

She looked past Malladus to see Zelda with her bow ready to be fired as strange light spheres grew and then flew towards the arrow tip. She released the arrow and it shot straight into Malladuses back, making the bull yell out and tumble to the ground. A large and bright ruby colored stone appeared on his forehead and he looked as though he were unconscious for the moment.

Aife scrambled to stand up and raced over there immediately but Link got to him first.

The small boy yelled as he slammed and slashed his sword at the horns of Malladus, trying to reach the stone on his forehead.

Malladuses eyes flew open the same time as Link sliced off one of his horns. The demon shook Link off and stood as he roared out with fury.

The demon slammed his claw into Link, making him fly off to the side with a cry of pain.

"Link no!" Zelda cried out.

Zelda readied another arrow and then fired as soon as the light spheres entered the arrows tip. The arrow dug itself into Malladuses shoulder and the demon turned towards the small blonde girl.

He started towards her and Zelda automatically moved back in fear.

Aife forced herself up and raced towards Malladus with her sword readied.

With all her force she stabbed her sword into the his hind leg, forcing it deeper into the strange blue skin. The demon shrieked and spun around towards her, his eyes full of outrage. And because of his quick movement, Aife was pushed back.

With her sword still stuck in his leg.

"OH FU*-!" She screamed as he charged towards her head first.

She screamed as he slammed into her, his horn just cutting through her arm instead of her actual chest. His forehead slammed into her and she flew back onto a piece of the Demon Trains wall.

She groaned and fell to the ground on her hands and knees, gripping her bloody arm and glaring at Malladus through her messy and blood soaked hair. Her head was pounding and throbbing and her body screamed and begged her to stop moving.

"Oh you did not just do that..." Aife growled at the demon and tried to stand.

Link yelled out to her but she didn't quite catch what he had said.

She glanced over to him to see him running towards Malladus, his sword raised.

He thrust his sword into the demons leg and quickly pulled back as he grabbed Aifes sword.

Malladus whipped towards him and Zelda fired another golden arrow. The arrow dug deeply into the side of his head and he screamed. The demon moved towards her and Link threw Aifes sword towards her.

She nodded to him as thanks and then stood up. She ran over to her sword, scooped it up into her hand without stopping and raced towards Malladus beside Link.

The two of them moved behind Malladus and stabbed their swords into the back of his ankles. Malladus screamed at them and spun around to face them.

He made his posture grow so that he appeared like a giant to them, rising above them as he glared down at them. As though they were mere maggots to him.

'_You will regret your foolish attempt to save this world_!' Malladuses voice roared through her mind.

Aife smirked, resting her sword on her shoulder as if she didn't give a damn. She looked him straight in the eye then and her smirk grew darker as she lifted her fist up and flipped him off without a care. She heard Link hold back a burst of laughter at the casual gesture.

"Bring it." She spat and raced towards him, jumping out of the way of his claw that came swooping towards her as he screamed at her in outrage.

She smiled darkly as she stabbed her sword into his leg.

"Now!" Aife yelled towards Zelda

"Okay!" The girl called back.

Zelda moved around to the side and raised her bow towards Malladuses back, trying to aim it just right.

*_Whoosh_*

An arrow was shot out towards Malladus, hitting the golden mark on his back perfectly. Malladus growled and fell to the ground with a loud thump.

Link rushed towards him and started to hack away at the next horn to reach the strange stone on his forehead.

Aife came over as well to help cut off the horn. After a few more hits and slashes of their blades, it finally fell off with a loud crack and snap.

Malladus shook them off and fired out more burning rocks at them. Link was able to roll away and practically jump on Zelda to help shield her from the burning stones that flew everywhere.

Aife dodged them with a simple roll and laughed at him.

"Miss!" She yelled.

Malladus growled at her and charged towards her in a flash.

Though instead of being pushed back, she was knocked to the ground, her head making a loud banging noise when making contact with the cold stone ground. Her sword flew out of her hand and landed with a clang.

'Goddess dammit! Why does that keep happening?!'

She hissed and groaned at the burning pain that shot through her head.

Malladus moved toward her and pressed his large claw onto her chest.

She gasped and wheezed for air and whimpered as his sharp claws dug into her chest and stomach. She struggled underneath him then growled as he pressed further, his claws stabbing into her skin.

He brought his face closer to hers and screamed right into her face. His hot and disgusting breath blew over her face and she flinched away from it. A loud and annoying whining noise rang through her ears and she glared at him as she struggled to grab her sword, her fingers barely grazing over the handle.

He raised his other claw, and was about to finish her off completely when something slammed into the ruby like stone on his forehead, making him loosen his grip on her.

Which was just enough for her to roll out some more and grab her swords hilt.

She brought her sword up and awkwardly stabbed it into his claw from the side. Malladus raised his claw off of her chest at the sudden pain and she did not hesitate to roll away before it came slamming back down again.

Aife stood up shakily, blood soaking her clothes and staining her skin. She gripped her stomach where she had been stabbed by the bulls sharp claws, wincing slightly at the pain.

Aife glanced to where that strange blue explosion thing had come from and she smirked slightly as she saw a familiar dark haired man racing through the jagged rocks and dodging Malladuses fire balls in the process. He seemed to just snake through the jagged rocks smoothly as if he were running over a flat surface, his quick movements over each stone seemed flawless, and his dark hair snapped around in a black flash with his quick movements.

Byrne raised his gauntlet and shot out another electric blue orb thing that slammed into Malladuses forehead, his arm muscles flexing as he did so.

Magic...

Aifes eyes widened. 'Since when does he have magic!?' Her mind yelled. But she shook her head, deciding that it didn't matter now.

Byrne glanced at Aife for a second before he dodged one of Malladuses fire balls, that exploded everywhere upon hitting the jagged stones.

Link started to hit the demons leg again with his sword to distract him and Aife raced over to help.

That was also when Zelda let loose an arrow surrounded by golden light that hit the middle of Malladus back. Making the demon roar in rage and fury as he fell to the ground, momentarily unconscious.

Aifes eyes widened and she only froze for a second before she raced over to where Malladus was.

"Now!" She yelled at Link.

The boy nodded and raced to the front of Malladus where he quickly started to slash away at the stone on the demons forehead.

Aife quickly joined in, and raised her sword over her head and struck the blade into the demons head.

But the creature woke up too soon, and Link barely had enough time to stab his sword into Malladuses weak spot as well. Malladus pushed back and Link struggled to hold back the enormous bull that pushed against him.

Aife quickly pushed her own sword into the creatures forehead further and they both pushed back against the demon that tried to force them down.

"Zelda!" Link cried out.

"Hang on! I'm coming!" She called as she raced over to them.

Aife cried out as her arms threatened to give out and crumble. Her muscles were shaking so badly and her hands were even worse. Everything thing in her body screamed at her to stop, and she knew full well that it would only be a matter of time before she passed out.

But she felt something warm press against her back then, and a pair of hands grabbed the hilt of her sword to help her push her sword further into the demons weak spot. Large arms were up against her own and she felt the force of Malladus ease off of her arms.

She didn't have to glance back to know Byrne was there. He was all too familiar and that made her smile slightly.

"I've got your back." He muttered gruffly into her ear right as they pushed her sword even further into the ruby stone on the demons forehead.

'Focus...' Her mind whispered. Aife closed her eyes and pushed her body further, she whimpered slightly as her muscles started to ache more. She then growled at her body for being so weak, 'Come on Aife, finish this.'

Zelda finally grabbed the hilt of Links sword and helped him push back Malladus, who screamed out at them in fury.

"Unh, almost there!" Zelda cried out.

Mallaudus pushed his head even closer to them, and they all grunted as they struggled to push him back.

But just before they were about to make the final and killing blow, something deep rumbled through Aifes ears. She opened her eyes and everything seemed to freeze when she looked into Malladuses eyes. She wasn't even breathing now, everything had gone silent and motionless...

The demons yellow eyes flickered to the black mark on her hand, and it almost looked as though he was smirking.

'_I see you've received my little gift for you.._.' His deep voice rumbled through her mind and almost seemed to crackle like lightning with a somewhat amused tone to it. '_We will meet again little child... Just wait and see_...' Malladus said threateningly.

She smirked darkly. 'Challenge accepted.' She thought back, no way would she let his words scare her.

His glare turned cold with hatred and her mark started to burn, making her gasp and flinch in pain. She yelled and pushed her sword further into the demons crystal forehead as everything seemed to go back to normal. Well, as normal as it was to be fighting a giant demonic blue bull.

"Just one last push!" Zelda cried as she helped Link.

"Now!" Aife yelled.

They cried out at the amount of pressure on their bodies and all four of them pushed their swords up and stabbed even further into Malladuses head, until the hilt of their swords were the only things visible. There was a loud crack and everything seemed to freeze then.

Link and Zelda held their sword into the demons head and Aife and Byrne kept theirs in place as well. No one dared to move, breathe, or even blink for that matter.

A deep thunder rumbled around them, and a flash of bright yellow lightning soon followed above them. The winds howled miles away as though it was in a threateningly way, but everything around them seemed to be still. Waiting.

And then, it all shattered.

The ruby colored weak spot exploded into tiny shards of stone everywhere.

Malladus pulled back and gripped his head as he yelled and screamed into the air, shaking furiously. He jerked around screaming in pain and fury, his blue skin twitching here and there. His fiery glare passed over Aife for a second and she glared back cooly.

With a final scream into the air, Malladus froze, his skin started to crack everywhere, and then it exploded into tiny blue shards that scattered everywhere in the air.

... And he was gone.

Everyone was breathing hard, feeling as though they could just crumble to the ground and sleep there forever from all the fighting.

Aife dropped her sword and leaned back into Byrnes chest, exhaustion hitting her hard as though she could just die from all the pain in her sore muscles. 'It's done.' She thought. 'It's over now.'

Byrne caught her and held her closely to him as he tried to catch his breath, the pain in his chest throbbed and he closed his eyes.

Zelda stared into space, looking hazed and shocked as she moved away from Link, her mind unable to process anything now.

Link only lowered his sword and glanced over at Zelda, he was a out of breath, and was looking pale but he was relieved that this was over.

There was a moment of silence between them all. The winds stopped their screaming and the sky stopped yelling as the dark clouds above them grew thin and bright orange and pink beams snuck out. When the darkness had finally cleared, the sun was finally visible at the horizon, making the sky orange with small fluffy pink clouds floating lazily by.

"So... It's all over now... But-" Zelda started solemnly but was cut off upon seeing Byrne. Her eyes grew wide and she froze for a second, as though she could not believe he was there. The small blonde girls face brightened and she squealed as she raced over to him, practically jumping on him to hug him.

"Y-You're alive!" She laughed out.

Byrne smiled kindly and gave the small blonde girl a hug back.

"Thank you for-... Thank you for protecting me, Byrne." She smiled sweetly up at him tears pricking at her eyes.

He nodded down at her. "You are welcome, Your Majesty."

She smiled and took a step back and grinned at Aife, she opened her mouth to speak but she was cut off.

"For a second there... I thought we were too late." A voice said softly.

An old looking women came up to them, dressed in a pink robe with her hair stacked in a high bun on top of her head. Her skin was wrinkled from time with a slight pink shading to it.

"Anjean?" Zelda asked in confusion, moving up to the elderly women who came up to them in some sort of strange wheel chair like thing.

"Your friend there," The old women, Anjean, gestured to Aife, "Payed a great price indeed to help Byrne."

"What?" Link asked, glancing at Aife nervously.

Aife only frowned and Byrne stiffened behind her.

"What happened Anjean?" Zelda asked as she walked up to the elderly Lokomo.

Anjean closed her eyes as she spoke. "Aife was able to get assistance from the Goddess, and for that, all of her memories of the lokomos, and her blood tying her to them was erased." Anjean explained.

Aifes frown only grew. Byrnes eyes widened as well as everyone else.

"What?" Zelda asked, "So she's... human then?"

Anjean nodded. "Yes, my dear, she is a full human now. Though she will not remember being half Lokomo."

"I can hear you you know..." Aife mumbled. 'This doesn't make any sense...' She thought to herself. 'But they wouldn't lie about this...'

"Then what's this mark?" Byrne asked, lifting up Aifes left hand.

Anjean frowned and shook her head. "That I cannot say. There is something odd about it though..."

"Great..." Aife grumbled to herself.

"But it's nothing to worry about now." Anjean smiled at them sweetly.

Zelda spoke up then. "So, will she never be able to remember anything about the Lokomos then?"

"No, but there should be no remorse. She chose this. And besides, our kind are the servants of the spirits, we will never lose that..." Anjean said as she rolled past them.

Zelda stared at her. "What do you mean?"

Anjean spoke kindly to them. "You see, as Lokomos... We weren't only meant to protect the spirit tracks. We were also meant to watch over mankind." Anjean laughed. "But are protection is no longer needed. Even without the spirits' guidance, you will do well." She smiled at the warmly. "So I think I will return to the heavens... In the company of my old friends."

And with that, Anjean raised her arms outward and started to float up from her strange looking chair.

"Anjean wait!" Zelda called out, stepping forward towards Anjean.

"Please watch over this land, my dear. Link, Aife, and Byrne... You must help her." She told them softly.

There was a flash of light, and suddenly Anjean was replaced by a glowing pink orb.

"Good bye and thank you, thank you all." She said as she floated up into the air as long as some other colorful orb spirits.

Aife felt tears prick at her eyes when she saw a silver orb fly up into the air, but she was unsure as to why it upset her. Byrne wrapped his arms around her and she leaned back into him, taking comfort in his warmth.

There were six different colored orbs floating through the sky now. Pink, blue, silver, red, green, and brown.

Link and Zelda watched in awe and slowly, their fingers intertwined together as they watched the Lokomo guardians leave this world. Knowing that it was finally over and it was going to be okay from now on.

Aife felt Byrne release her and she only had a second to turn her head as he moved in front of her and hugged her into his chest, tucking her head under his chin. She let out a soft sigh and leaned against him, feeling her muscles become loose and relaxed in his embrace. Byrne looked ahead of them and she snuck a glance to the side as well.

The sun was slowly starting to set in the west, leaving behind streaks of orange and blue, and the crisp twilight air surrounded the four of them as the calm finally came.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty Six**

* * *

After searching around for a while they had managed to re-discover the so-called Spirit Train. Aife pretended to know what the hell they were talking about and Byrne promised he would explain later about what they meant.

Link insisted that Zelda should get some rest in the passenger cart, and she, after what seemed like a very long time of arguing, finally sat in the back with Byrne and Aife.

Aife hissed as Byrnes hands carefully slid over the cuts on her stomach.

"Hold still." He commanded.

"Well it's a little difficult to do that on a train that won't stop jerking around." She snapped back.

They glared at each other for a moment and heard a laugh come from beside them, making them both turn their heads.

Zelda turned her head away and tried to hide her laughter from them.

Aife rolled her eyes, huffed, and then hissed again right after when Byrne touched her wounds. His warm hands were covered in some strange blue magic that he said would help quicken the healing process.

She took a deep breath as she felt the warmth of his magic seep into her wounds. The pain in her stomach and chest was slowly ebbing away now and she felt her body relax more.

"Thanks." She mumbled and pushed her tunic down when he finished.

Byrne nodded and moved back.

"So... You don't remember anything?" Zelda asked carefully. Aife shrugged without looking at her. "Do you remember me?" The girl asked.

Aife pursed her lips and she frowned as she looked at Zelda in confusion. "Um..." She started awkwardly. "What's your name again?"

Zelda eyes grew wide as she gasped in horror.

"Kidding!" Aife snickered and started to laugh even more as Zedla started to smack at her arm.

"Oh you-!" Zelda fumed. "That's mean!"

Aife stuck her tongue at her and giggled as she moved over in her seat to sit against the wall. Relaxing in the moment of silence that passed between the three of them.

"Teacher is going to flip out when he sees me again." Zelda mumbled to herself. "But it'll be nice to finally be home and sleep in my own bed again." She smiled at them. "But what about you two? Where will you go?"

Aife glanced over at Byrne, not entirely sure of where she could go.

"The Tower of Spirits. How does that sound to you?" Byrne turned his head slightly to look at Aife for a reply.

She nodded. "Sounds good... I guess." She smiled at him. "It's not like I have anywhere else to go."

Byrne chuckled.

"What?" She asked him and squinted her eyes at him.

"It's nothing." He told her. "I'll tell you later."

Aife rolled her eyes. "Fine! Keep your secrets." She mumbled at him.

"Oh! That means you can come over and visit!" Zelda exclaimed cheerfully.

Aife giggled and then inwardly shuddered as the sudden image of having tea-parties and playing with dolls came into mind.

'And make-up... Ugh.' Aife shook her head to get the image out. She sighed. 'Maybe it wouldn't be that bad.' She had never actually tried it before. 'Maybe if Byrne had a tea party with us it would be fun...' She held back the burst of laughter that threatened to bubble from her at the thought of him at a girlish and childish tea party.

Aife shook that thought from her head while closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath as her head started to spin again. She then tried very hard to not think about Malladus and all the strange things that happened. 'He's dead. Stop thinking about it.' She told herself.

She felt something snake behind her back and under her legs and she gasped reflectively. She opened her eyes to see Byrne scooping her up and hugging her to his lap.

"Rest now. We'll be at te castle when you wake." He murmured in her ear.

She nodded and felt her cheeks grow slightly warm as her eyes dropped.

* * *

**Byrnes Pov.**

Byrne glanced out the window to see the odd colors of the sunset slowly grow darker with trees flashing by in his view as the train sped back towards Hyrule castle.

They would probably be back there past mid-day tomorrow. Considering how Link would obviously need a good long rest soon. He still almost couldn't believe that Malladus was dead. The Demon King, defeated by two kids, a wounded Lokomo, and a human girl who couldn't remember what she was doing there. Byrne shook his head. None of that mattered now. He was alive and so was Aife, and that's all that truly mattered now.

She shifted slightly in his arms and he held her closer, feeling her heart flutter inside her body that rested so close to his. He started to wonder if she was having unpleasant dreams, or if her heart was just jumpy.

"Hm, you really like her don't you?" Zelda asked him while smiling, her eyes half closed.

Byrne looked down at Aife and cocked his head to the side as he smiled slightly. "Yes." He said softly. That wasn't the right wording but he supposed that his answer it would suffice for the girls question.

Zelda smiled sweetly at them. "Yeah, she said the same thing..." She mumbled sleepily.

"She did?" Byrne asked automatically, half cringing for asking such a childish thing.

"Mmhmm." Zelda mumbled as her eyes dropped shut.

Byrne leaned back in his own chair and cradled Aife closer.

The train came to a slow stop and steam hissed in the front as Link staggered into the passenger cart, looking as though he could sleep on the floor and be perfectly happy with it.

The blonde boy glanced at Aife and gave Byrne and her a strange look as he walked up and practically dropped on the seat in front of Zelda.

"Don't you-..." Link start groggily. "Don't you hurt her..."

Byrne glanced down at her and then looked back at the boy. "You need not worry about that. I would never."

Link nodded. "Good... 'Cause other wise... 'Cause-..." Link was cut off as his body became completely relaxed and he started to snore softly as sleep finally took him.

Byrne smiled slightly and closed his eyes.

He was looking forward to this new life.

* * *

_A white light flashed and something, or maybe it was someone, smiled softly at the small girl that sat in the snow playing with small pinecones as toys alone._

_The girl looked up and saw an elderly old man there, his white hair done up in a bun as usual as he sat in his strange little silver and blue wheel chair._

_He smiled kindly at her. "I'm so proud of you, Aife." He told her. "You be a good girl, okay?"_

_The small girl stared at him and then smiled. "Okay." She chirped and smiled up at him with snowflakes kissing her skin and sticking to her hair._

_The man smiled kindly and started to fade as more snow came fluttering around them._

_The small girl started to cry then, she didn't want him to leave._

_But that's how it had to be..._

_... Snow continued to fill the air._

* * *

**Aifes Pov.**

There was a loud and piercing squeal that shrieked through the air.

Aife woke up with a jerk and took in a quick intake of breath as she felt something tighten around her. She looked up relaxed slightly when she saw Byrne staring down at her in concern. She looked over to Zelda to see her with her nose practically pressed into the widow with the biggest and most ridiculous grin on ever.

"We're here!" She squealed in delight.

Aife gave Byrne a questioning look.

"Hyrule Castle." He told her.

Aife smiled slightly and nodded as she sat up more, rubbing her eyes to get the sleep out of them.

Zelda jumped off her seat as soon as the train came to a halt. Link came to the back and grinned at them. Zelda practically jumped on him as she grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the train.

Aife stood and Byrne followed behind her. She hopped out of the train and when Byrne was down as well he grabbed her hand.

She trudged him along as she followed Zelda and Link from the train and onto the stone covered train station area.

They walked into the main square where people started to stare at them and whisper to each other. And it didn't take long before Zelda was spotted.

"_ZELDA?!_" A voice screeched from the castles courtyard entrance.

Zelda gasped and waved her arm in the air as she smiled brightly. "Hello Teacher! I'm back!" She giggled and raced up to him.

The elderly man, teacher, ran towards her and started to have a panic attack. He asked, or rather screamed, where she had been and Zelda tried to explain calmly without giving away too much to make him worry for her mental health. He did an examination of her and started to panic again when he saw how ripped and dirtied the bottom of her dress was.

Link smiled and placed his hands on his hips as he watched Zelda's tutor rant about how worried he was and how he nearly had a heart attack because of her and how if she ever ran off again like that he would probably explode from worrying.

"You there!" Teacher gestured to Link. "You helped bring her home safely, correct?"

Link nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Then you have my highest respect. A deed like this is in call for a reward." Teacher continued as he pushed up the small round glasses that slipped to his nose.

Link started to refuse politely but Zelda cut him off.

"Of course! But he wasn't the only one who helped." Zelda explained sweetly as she turned to Aife and Byrne. "They helped too."

Aife frowned. 'With what? Stabbing a demon bull in the head?' She decided it would be best of she just kept her mouth shut.

"Your Majesty," Byrne started. "That is unnecessary." He told her kindly.

Zelda started to pout.

"We must have a welcome home party immediately." Teacher started, already getting worked up about it.

"Oh, don't you think that's over-doing it?" Zelda wondered.

"Nonsense!" Teacher put in. "We must celebrate your return! Come along now." He said as he started towards the castle gates, refusing to accept any more no's from them.

Zelda sighed and smiled apologetically at Aife and Byrne and followed after Teacher with Link.

Aife let out a small giggle and followed behind, taking Byrnes hand.

As they walked, the people around them frowned at them and some even quickly glanced away upon seeing Byrne. Where as the guards just glared at him and basically everything else there.

"I-... don't think I'm very welcome here..." Byrne half mumbled to Aife as they continued past everyone's steely and tense eyes.

She giggled, and spread her arms out to gesture at the people and guards. Some glared while others gave her a wary glance and then quickly looked away.

"Well through all those glares and tense shoulders... They love you! I mean what's not like about a super large guy wearing a wicked looking claw and a scarf? Nothing scary about that." She chirped and Byrne rolled his eyes and sighed as they continued through the street and into the castle.

Once inside, Zelda's tutor started to ramble a million times an hour about how they had so much to prepare for and how it was so great that Zelda was finally home again. He started to snap out orders to the guards nearby and they gave him strange glances as the left to do what they were told.

Aife remained quiet the whole time as people rushed around past them and Zelda and Link spoke to her hysterical teacher who started to sob about how worried he was.

"Your Majesty," Byrne cut in and Zelda turned to him. "If it's alright with you, Aife and I will take out leave now."

"You'll come back later though, for the party, right?" Zelda asked, giving them puppy dog eyes in hope that they would come.

"Of course." Byrne told her.

Aife smiled at her as Byrne lead her out of the castle.

Once they were out sight Byrne wrapped his arms around Aife and before she could even speak, everything grew blurry and they disappeared

* * *

Aifes head started to spin as the area around them slowly became clearer.

"You know... You should really give me a warning or something before you do that." Aife mumbled as she rubbed her head to stop it from spinning.

"My apologizes. I just thought this would be much quicker." He replied as he loosened his arms around her.

She sighed and glanced around them.

They were in some sort of strange hall with stone walls and floors covered in weird patterns of different colors. The air had a slight chill to it, and smelled a little dusty.

"Where are we?" She frowned.

"The Tower of Spirits..."

"Ah." She mumbled, having no idea what that was suppose to mean.

She glanced at Byrne to see something like sadness pass over his eyes. But it was quickly gone and replaced with a dark smirk as he pulled her closer to him.

"So now I finally have you all to myself..." He murmured in her ear darkly.

She squirmed out of his arms playfully. "Okay!" She said as she stepped back from him. "That's creepy. Like, really creepy..." She got out while blushing slightly, trying to hold back a girlish giggle.

He chuckled and shook his head. "My room is there," He gestured to the door down the hall. "If you want to change you can. I'm going to make sure the monsters are cleared."

"Oh, monsters live here too?" She questioned as she started down the hall. "Well this place sounds promising already."

Byrne only shook his head as he smirked. "Wait till you meet the phantoms again..." He half muttered as he started down the opposite hall. "Wait in my room, I'll be right back."

Aife rolled her eyes and wondered into his room.

She closed the door behind herself and took in a deep breath, the room smelled just like him. She giggled slightly at that and moved up to what appeared to look like his closet. She opened the doors and peered inside.

Green, blue, brown, green, blue, green, brown, blue, green.

Aife frowned slightly at the color of his clothes in his closet.

"Huh..." She half muttered to herself. "Well he sure has a wide variety of colors..."

She grabbed the closest blue shirt after a second and closed the door, deciding that she wasn't going to bother trying to choose between dark green or 'slightly' darker green.

She pulled off her torn and dirtied tunic and easily slipped on the clean blue shirt. It was baggy and loose on her and ran down to her mid-thighs.

She threw off her boots next. "See ya, boots." She chirped as she tossed them to the side, wiggling her bare toes in relief of having them off.

She moved and sat on the edge of his bed for a bit, swinging her legs back and forth and then trying to count the holes in his ceiling.

When she counted up to thirty-four, she gave up and stood. 'There's too many damn holes to count...' Her mind grumbled as she rubbed her eyes, feeling as they they were slightly burned from trying to spot all those tiny holes in the white ceiling.

She peeked outside the door and into the hall. Seeing that it was empty she slowly walked out of his room and continued down the hall to her right.

After a minute she came across some stairs.

Her expression slowly turned into an evil grin as she raced up the stairs, giggling to herself as her bare feet slapped against the cool stone steps.

After what seemed like forever of climbing up stairs, she came across a large round room with a raised ring shaped arena in it.

'A training ring...' Her mind whispered. '... Sweet.'

She was already starting to like this place, despite the fact that the staircases here were ridiculously long and probably never ending, she still liked it.

She wondered through the room, swinging her arms as she started to hum some unknown tune. She walked through the doorway and saw another flight of stairs.

She stared at them for a moment and growled. She started up them and glanced to the side and gasped slightly.

She could see out for miles and miles. Rolling green hills with train tracks snaking over them. Groups of trees hugging together in strange lump like shapes, and the castle was nearby too, standing proudly beside the tower.

Aife smiled slightly as the wind started to play gently with her hair. The breeze was cool with a faint hint of the fading afternoon warmth.

She continued up the stairs and once she reached the top, she moved to the side and leaned her elbows against the stone ledge that blocked her from falling off. She leaned her body against the stone pillar that stood beside her and sighed.

This place seemed so... Strange. Everything about it just seemed so odd to her. But she supposed that she would get use to it, and she had Byrne with her... She smiled slightly at that thought, he would be here to help her. But now she could start fresh. 'Yeah, I can do whatever I want now. Travel to wherever...' She thought to herself and then remembered something. 'Hmm, I should visit Alfonzo soon. Just so he knows that we're still alive...' She thought distantly.

She glanced down at the black mark on her left hand, rubbing her hand over it.

It didn't hurt like she almost expected it too, instead, it just sat there. Staring back blankly. She frowned at it. 'What are you?' She wondered. '... Oh right, you're a 'gift' from that demon guy, right?' Her frown deepened. 'But what's that suppose to mean?' It looked like it could be a regular tattoo, but there was something off about it... Like it was-

The sound of footsteps coming from the staircase interrupted her thoughts as she snapped back to reality. 'Its probably nothing. He's dead so there's no need to worry about it.' She thought to herself. She heard the footsteps grow closer until they were right behind her. Warm hands covered her eyes before she could turn around.

"Who's there?" She asked, smirking to herself.

"Guess." A deep voice said, she could hear him smiling as well.

She dropped her shoulders "Ugh, Alfonzo, that's really creepy..." She pretended to pout.

She heard him growl behind her, and he whipped her around in a flash, closing the space between their lips.

She smiled and kissed him back.

When he pulled back he gave her a dark smile, his golden eyes gleaming with a hint of amusement.

She gasped and pulled away slightly. "You're not Alfonzo!" She pretend to be utterly shocked and horrified as she gaped at him.

Byrne rolled his eyes and pulled her into his chest. "I want to show you something." He told her as he lifted his claw up and shot it out and up somewhere she couldn't see.

Aifes eyes widened and she screamed as he jumped off the edge of the tower without a moments hesitation.

"_Byrne!_" She screamed and clutched his shoulders with a death like grip as the ground beneath them disappeared and the air swooshed around them.

She closed her eyes tightly and she thought she heard him chuckle as he swung upward the same time his claw started to pull him towards where it had latched onto.

Byrne easily swung their bodies onto something solid and cradled Aife into his chest.

"You can open your eyes now." He told her softly.

She took a deep breath and once she was sure she was standing on something solid she opened her eyes one at a time.

They were standing on the top of the towers roof.

She gasped and stared in amazement at how close the clouds above seemed to be and how small every thing below was.

She pulled away from him and looked up at him.

"Byrne.." She growled as she glared at him.

"Yes?" He chuckled at her flushed cheeks and angry expression.

She punched his chest. "Don't you ever do that again!" She snapped.

He only chuckled and grabbed her wrist, forcing her into his chest as he spun around with her and sat on the towers roof.

She grumbled something about him being a huge jerk, to which he only smiled at.

"I'm sorry," He murmured. As he kissed her cheek. "Will you _ever_ forgive me?" He asked with a slight teasing tone.

She sighed to herself and gave up on being mad at him. "Fine." She huffed. "But you're still a jerk..." She grumbled.

She cuddled into him as she sat inside the bowl he made with his crossed legs. She sighed and then looked up again to watch the sun slowly start to fade into the horizon.

"So... Now what?" She asked softly after a moment.

Byrne stared at the setting sun with her and hugged her closer.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"What will we do now?" She asked him.

"Hmm..." He mused. "I suppose I could try and re-teach you what was taken away with your memories..."

Aife thought about that, 'Maybe that wouldn't be so terrible...'

"Or... That could wait." He put in at her silence.

She smiled. "Oh? Did you have something else in mind?" She asked innocently.

He smirked at her and kissed her cheek again. "You can decide."

She giggled and turned her head to glance back at him. "... I love you. You know that right?"

Byrnes eyes grew wide and his cheeks grew slightly red as he stared at her. He quickly kissed her and hugged her closer. She only giggled at that.

When they broke apart she sighed happily and leaned back against him.

She looked up to see the sky turning from deep oranges and reds to cool blues and violets. Tiny dots of light lazily started to poke through the deep blue and sparkle slightly above them.

"Goddess... It's beautiful up here..." She half whispered.

"Mmm.." Byrne murmured in agreement as he watched her.

"No. Look at it!" She said as she threw her hands into the air to gesture at the sky. "It's like it's never ending..." She said as she spread her palms towards the sky. "See look. There's a cloud shaped cloud." She pointed at one of the pinkish clouds in the sky.

Byrne looked up and frowned. "It looks more like a boot."

"Dude... I don't know what you're talking about. It's clearly a cloud shape."

His frown deepened. "I don't think you understand the objective of that game..."

She giggled and pointed at another much smaller cloud. "And that's it's mini me." She said while smiling as she tilted her head back to glance up at him innocently.

He looked down at her and smiled slightly as he kissed her nose.

She felt her cheeks grow slightly warm and she tilted her head back so that she could watch the sky again. Byrne wrapped his arms around her waist and placed his chin on the crook of her neck.

"It's really nice here..." Aife half mumbled.

"I'm glad that you like it." Byrne said softly.

She leaned her head back to rest it on his shoulder as she yawned. After a moment she felt Byrne shift behind her as he started to stand, picking her up with him.

"What are you-?" She started.

He smiled crookedly at her. "We're going to be late... Or did you forget about our invitation to Zelda's party?"

Aife smiled slightly. "Oh, right. That thing."

"Yes that thing. Come on, we're going to be late." Byrne repeated.

She hesitantly peeked at the edge of the tower and then quickly looked away.

"Could we just stay up here? And, you know, not jump down like crazy people..."

He grabbed her chin so that she was forced to look up at him. "Do you trust me?" He asked her, his intense golden eyes staring deeply into her own.

She couldn't help but nod, if not a little helplessly as well. 'Damn those eyes...'

"Then don't be afraid," He continued as he tucked her into his chest protectively. "I won't let you fall."

She buried her face into his neck and closed her eyes tightly. "Promise?" She asked softly.

Byrne smiled and hugged her closer as he shot his claw into the roofs ledge.

"I promise." He whispered to her just as he jumped off the edge and into the towers top floor.

Aife smiled as she tightened her grip around his neck, holding back her urge to squeal as they swung off the towers edge.

Once they were inside the actual tower, and on solid ground, Aife loosened her grip only a little around his neck. Byrne chuckled at that and scooped her up bridal style as he started down the stairs.

And into their new life together...

* * *

_**... The End.**_

**A/N: ... X3 ... WAIT! Before you go I have a few very important things I would like to tell you!**

**-/ There is going to be a sequel. That triangle on Aifes hand is important... *evil grin* By now I should have the first chapter up for it. If not then the title is: Twilight Princess: The Vessel of Darkness. \\\-**

**Notes:**

**1- I want to thank everyone who favorited/followed/reviewed this story. It really meant a lot to me while I was working on it. And a huge thanks to all you people who reviewed this story a million times, really, you guys are amazing. ^.-b**

**2- Another big thanks goes out to Wingscutdarkness *huggles* ^_- What's that? I already said that before? ... Oh well. X3**

**3- Aife and Byrne show up again in another story I have created with Wind-Mage-Vaati12. The description is in my bio at the bottom of the page. Please go check it out! It's a huge and insane story with a billion amazing LoZ characters that show up. :D**

**Anyways. *bows* Thank you for reading my first complete story. I really do hope that the ending lived up to your expectations. :)**

**-Demon Tracks**  
**By: TheMidnightWhisp**  
**(September, 15. 2012 - March, 05. 2013)**


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